What’s New in Google TalkBack 16.2

Google has started rolling out version 16.2 of the TalkBack screen reader. The rollout typically takes one to two weeks to complete. Let’s take a look at what’s new in this release.

Text Formatting Reporting

With the new TalkBack release, it is now possible to get information about special text formatting such as bold, underlined, and more. Reporting can be done automatically whenever formatted text is encountered, or manually by focusing the text and using the “Describe text formatting” option. TalkBack states the character range as well as the actual text that has the special formatting.

Automatic Formatting Reporting

To disable or enable automatic reporting of text formatting, use the “Speak text formatting” toggle from TalkBack settings > Verbosity settings. When this option is enabled, you can specify which formatting options are announced by activating “Text formatting options” and checking the desired items, such as bold, italic, and others. From there, it is also possible to decide how formatting should be signaled, whether through speech only, sound only, or both sound and speech.

To quickly turn text formatting reporting on or off without going into settings, this option can be added to Reading Controls by going to TalkBack settings > Edit menus > Customize reading controls, then checking “Turn speak text formatting on or off.”

Manual Description of Text Formatting

To hear a description of available formatting in focused text, the “Describe text formatting” option must first be added to the TalkBack menu. Go to TalkBack settings > Customize menus > Customize TalkBack menu, then enable the option. Note that even if “Describe text formatting” is added to the TalkBack menu, it only appears when there is formatting that TalkBack can describe. The descriptions are announced verbally and are not shown in a separate screen that can be reviewed.

Note: Both “Turn speak text formatting on or off” and “Describe text formatting” can be assigned to gestures using the Gestures section in TalkBack settings.

Using the Double Tap With Two Fingers Gesture to Start and Stop Voice Dictation When Using Gboard

The double-tap with two fingers gesture, which is the default gesture for playing and pausing media as well as answering calls, can now also be used to start and stop voice input when Gboard is the keyboard in use. While typing, use the gesture to start voice input, then use it again to stop it. When voice input stops, TalkBack repeats what was inserted, making it easier to review the entered text. Although the feature generally works, users report that it sometimes refuses to work without an obvious reason.

The gesture used for voice input can be changed, or the play and pause media function can be separated from the voice input function. When assigning gestures, a gesture can be assigned for play or pause media only, start and end voice input only, or both.

Browse Mode

If you have used the NVDA screen reader on Windows before, you should be familiar with the term Browse Mode. When this mode is active, it allows quick navigation through web page elements using single-letter commands. For example, H moves to the next heading and Shift + H moves to the previous one, K moves to the next link, V moves to the next visited link, and so on.

This functionality is now available in TalkBack when using external keyboards and also works with connected Braille displays. To use it with external hardware keyboards, the Enhanced keymap must be selected, if it is not already active, from the Keyboard shortcuts section in TalkBack settings. To toggle Browse Mode, press the Action key twice.

To allow TalkBack to automatically decide when to activate or deactivate Browse Mode, the “Smart Browse mode” option can be enabled from Advanced settings. However, when this option is active, TalkBack suspends Browse Mode whenever an edit box is in focus.

Unlike Windows screen readers, there is currently no way in TalkBack to keep Browse Mode active while an edit box is focused until Enter is pressed to signal the start of text input. Browse Mode resumes only after navigating away from the edit box.

Support for Browse Mode with Braille displays has led to some changes to Braille display commands. These changes, along with all available Braille commands, can be reviewed in the Braille display section section of TalkBack settings.

Enhanced Keymap

As mentioned above, to take advantage of Browse mode, the Enhanced keymap must be used. This keymap includes an extensive list of shortcuts, many of which can be customized by activating a shortcut and then pressing the desired key combination on the keyboard. However, the modifier key used by this keymap cannot be changed.

In the Enhanced keymap, the Action key is the Windows key, the Search key on a Chromebook keyboard, or the Command key on a Mac keyboard. It is used for many functions, including moving between onscreen elements. When Browse mode is active, the arrow keys navigate by characters and lines. To move between onscreen elements, the arrow keys must be pressed together with the Action key. This not only makes one-handed navigation almost impossible on many keyboards, but can also prevent website navigation entirely if, for any reason, the Action key is not present on the keyboard being used.

Testing was done with a keyboard that does not have a working Windows key, and navigating websites in Chrome was not possible. When attempting to change the shortcuts used for moving to the next and previous items, a message was shown indicating that the shortcuts must be a combination of the Action key with one or more additional keys.

More Functions Can Now Be Assigned to Gestures

With the new release, it is now possible to assign gestures for reporting the date and time, battery percentage, and window title. Gestures can also be assigned to lower or raise the speech rate and pitch.

Split Tap to Activate Focused Items

It is now possible to focus an item with one finger and, while that finger remains on the screen, tap with another finger to activate the item. This works in a similar way to the same feature on iOS. It is important to note that this feature currently works only on Pixel devices running the latest Android update. It is expected, however, that it will become available on more devices later through software updates.

Announce Keyboard Keys Faster Option

A new option called “Announce keyboard keys faster” has been added under Reduce delay settings in Advanced settings. This option cannot be enabled unless Google TTS is in use, and it is turned off by default. Throughout testing, no noticeable improvement in typing responsiveness was observed when this option was enabled, with occasional inconsistencies in character and word announcements.

Slight Settings Reorganization

With the new TalkBack release, a few changes in settings organization can be noticed, aiming to provide a more structured and organized settings layout.

Misc

• Users have noticed improvements in the split tap to type feature, which is now more accurate when inserting or long pressing the correct keyboard key in focus.
• It is now possible to copy a received image description or responses to follow-up questions using the newly added Copy action.
• An issue where pausing speech would sometimes resume previously paused speech instead of pausing the current speech has been fixed.
• A new bug has been introduced in version 16.2, where some buttons are announced as image instead of button. This does not affect all buttons, though.

Note for Samsung Users

All new features of Google TalkBack16.2 are now available in Samsung TalkBack found in One UI 8.5, which is currently in beta. Installing Google TalkBack on Samsung devices is still possible, and the new version has been tested on Samsung phones. However, using Google TalkBack on Samsung devices is not officially supported.