Like many other OEMs, Samsung offers some proprietary services alongside Google Services that come on all Android devices. This includes text-to-speech tools and, the polar opposite, speech-to-text dictation services. Many users prefer dictating instead of typing so the problem we’ll try and tackle today can be quite serious if that’s your preference, as well. Namely, it seems that speech-to-text dictation or voice typing is not working on some Samsung devices. Show If you have the same or similar problem, check the solutions we propose below. Table of contents:
Why does voice-to-text is not working on my Samsung?There are a few reasons why voice-to-text might not work on your Samsung. Here are the usual suspects and how to fix them:
1. Check system settingsFirstly, we recommend inspecting Samsung voice input settings and ensuring that everything is enabled. One thing that a few users recommended is disabling either Google Voice Typing or Samsung Voice Input. It seems that, if both are enabled, neither will work as intended. Now, it depends on what keyboard you prefer, Samsung Keyboard or Google Gboard. Whatever you choose, make sure that the voice typing/dictation option for the other one is disabled and give it another try. My personal preference is Google Voice Typing, although you might favor Samsung instead. Here’s what you need to do:
If you have issues with one, just switch to another. Users report that Google Voice Typing works (particularly on Galaxy S21) while proprietary speech-to-text is not working on Samsung. Give it a try and see for yourself. 2. Reset Google speech servicesIf you decided on Google Voice Typing but the issue persists, we recommend resetting Speech Services by Google. This tool not only allows TTS (text-to-speech) but also impacts how speech-to-text works. Google made some changes to the service in December 2021. so it’s recommended to keep it up to date. But, before that, you should reset it by either clearing local data or uninstalling updates from the service. Here’s how to reset Speech Services by Google and fix speech-to-text issues on your Samsung smartphone or tablet:
The same goes for Samsung Voice input but, to locate this service, you need to toggle on the Show system apps option. Clearing data from the service will reset it and, hopefully, fix the issues with the Voice-to-text engine and dictation. 3. Update the firmwareThe problem with speech-to-text (dictation) on Samsung devices was quite predominant on OneUI 3.1 but, as more and more devices get the OneUI 4 (Android 12) update, there are reports that Samsung voice input works better. Although, it’s still not the best with languages that are not English or Korean. Although Android pushes updates automatically, you can check for available updates and install them from system settings. Here’s how to check for updates manually:
If you start seeing some major bugs and problems, consider resetting your device to factory settings. A fresh start is always a way to go whenever you upgrade to a brand new Android version and notice some eye-jarring bugs. 4. Reset app preferencesFinally, if none of the previous steps worked, we suggest resetting app preferences. It worked for some users, although we can’t say with certainty that it will work for everyone. You can reset app preferences on your Samsung device by following these instructions:
If text-to-speech is not working on your Samsung smartphone after all these steps, consider reporting the problem to Samsung via the Members app. We hope that there’s no need for that and that you’re able to dictate messages and use voice typing without issues. But, it’s a good way to do something proactively in hope that Samsung will listen. Thank you for reading and make sure to tell us if the instructions we provided here helped you solve the problem. Do you have a better solution? Share it with us in the comments section below. Editor’s note: This article was originally published in January 2022. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy. |