When using bluetooth headphones, ear buds, or speakers with Talkback, there are a couple of issues that can creep up. One issue is that sometimes when you connect your device, the accessibility volume gets turned way down and can’t be adjusted until the user turns Talkback off and back on again. The second issue is that when using a bluetooth device, the accessibility volume can only be adjusted to a fraction of the media volume. This means that you can never get the screen reader to be louder than the media that is currently playing.
Thankfully, disabling absolute volume for bluetooth devices from within the developer settings will correct both of these issues, and here is how you would go about doing this.
Steps to follow
1First, you will need to enable developer settings if you haven’t already. It’s slightly different depending on your device, but you will need to navigate to the “About” section in the main settings and find where the build number is located under the software information. Tap (or double tap) on the build number 7 times. You will now be asked for your pin, pattern, or password. After confirming, developer settings will be enabled on your device.
- Now you will need to navigate to the developer settings. Again, it depends on your device, but this can usually be found near the bottom of your main settings page, or within the system settings section.
- Once you have found the developer settings and opened them, scroll down until you find where the bluetooth related settings are grouped together under the “Network” heading. Find “Disable Absolute Volume” and turn this switch on.
That’s it! This should help to make your experience much better with bluetooth devices. One thing you should definitely keep in mind is that with this setting turned on, the master volume of your bluetooth device will no longer stay in sync with the media volume on your phone. This means if you turn the volume down from the controls on your headset or speaker, you will have to turn it back up from those same controls rather than being able to reach maximum volume by adjusting it from your phone.
Thanks for this article which is the closest I have come to my issue.
I am running Pixel 7A Android 14, Accessibility suite 14.0.1.
In the past few days Talkback’s output is always channeled to the device speaker instead of any headphones (wired or Bluetooth) that I have connected.
I have tried the following:
* Cycling TalkBack.
* Rebooting the phone solves the problem for up to 20 seconds or so before it again goes to the speaker.
* Same results with 3 different sets of headphones (wired and Bluetooth).
I have logged this with Android Accessibility but so far no response.
Questions:
* Anyone else having this problem?
* Any other suggestions to keep TalkBack output on connected headphones.
* Any developper Bluetooth settings which may help with this.
Thanks.