What’s New in TalkBack Version 16.1

Last updated on 13 September 2025

Google has started rolling out version 16.1 of the TalkBack screen reader. Here’s what’s new in this release. The rollout reaches devices in batches and may take about a week to complete. It is possible to update manually by installing an APK, but this is done at your own risk. If you choose to install the new version manually, it is recommended to use an APK from a trusted source and update through a third-party installer like Skit.

Gemini image descriptions changes

Descriptions are now provided in more languages

With TalkBack 16.1, more languages are supported in the Gemini image descriptions as well as in the follow-up questions feature. Users running version 16.0 who did not use English as their system language were unable to use both the Describe Screen feature and follow-up questions introduced in 16.0. With the added language support in 16.1, more users across a variety of languages should now be able to benefit from these features.

Current supported languages are: Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

Changes to the image description screen layout

The thumbs up and thumbs down buttons that appeared next to each response have been removed and replaced with options to report the response as either good or bad through Actions. You can focus on a response and use the desired action to give feedback. By default, Actions is the reading control selected whenever an action is present, so you can use up and down swipes to move between feedback choices and double-tap to confirm. This layout change makes it easier to review responses, especially when swiping, as it now requires fewer swipes to navigate the description and additional responses.

Note regarding the model used for the descriptions and responses

We have not noticed changes in the provided descriptions, suggesting no indication of an upgrade in the AI model used. Additionally, we tried asking a follow-up question twice about the Gemini model used, and the response was “Gemini Pro” in both instances (the same response we received when version 16.0 was released).

Reduce delay settings

In an effort to make the screen reader respond faster, especially during touch exploration and when typing on the onscreen keyboard, TalkBack introduces a new Reduce Delay Settings section in the advanced settings. In addition, the Single tap to activate, Typing preference, and Touch and hold delay when typing options have been moved to this new section.

Focus delay

This controls the time between touching the screen and the announcement of what’s under your finger. A shorter time means TalkBack speaks faster after touching the screen, though this may make it harder for some users to perform gestures. The default value is 0.3 seconds, with available alternatives of 0.15, 0.20, or 0.25 seconds.

Typing focus delay

This setting specifically affects announcements after touching the keyboard area, such as when selecting a character. For the fastest announcements, it is recommended to set the typing preference to Lift to type for all keys. The available values are the same as in Focus delay.

It is possible to reset delay settings to their defaults using the Reset all delay settings option. When changing a delay value for the first time, that setting is added as a reading control, allowing you to adjust it directly without entering the settings menu. You can remove added reading controls by going to TalkBack settings > Customize menu > Customize reading controls.

Our testing

Our initial testing showed improved responsiveness when setting Focus delay to its minimum value. TalkBack became faster in announcing what’s under the finger when touching the screen, and we did not encounter issues performing gestures. For typing delay, we noticed a more responsive typing experience with Gboard, as TalkBack announced characters more quickly when touching them, especially at the minimum value. However, announcements were not instantaneous enough to provide a true direct-touch typing experience. We also observed that TalkBack sometimes struggled to keep up with typing speed, skipping reading of inserted letters or introducing a short delay between sound feedback and TTS output (the responsiveness of the TTS engine in use could play a role here). These observations were made on a mid-range Samsung Galaxy A55, but results may vary depending on the device.

Braille input screen gestures are now customizable

TalkBack 16.1 adds the ability to customize braille input screen gestures by changing the assignment of the default gestures and actions. To customize braille keyboard gestures, go to TalkBack settings > Braille keyboard (under the Braille heading) and double-tap Gestures.

Gestures are divided into the following categories: basic controls, cursor movement, text selection and editing, and proofreading. A button is also included to reset all gestures to their default state. After activating the desired section, double-tap the action you want to change. Select Change gesture to assign a new one. Some actions share the same gesture; changing the gesture for one will also change it for the other. TalkBack informs the user of this. To remove the current gesture and leave the action unassigned, select Remove gesture. To reset an action to its default assignment, use the Reset to default button.

After selecting Change gesture, a help message appears, explaining that the braille keyboard will be opened, how to set the gesture, and how to close the keyboard to return to using regular onscreen gestures. The message includes a checkbox to not show it again and a Continue button. After tapping Continue, the braille keyboard is shown. The user must then perform the desired gesture to set it as the assigned gesture for the selected action. The recognized gesture is announced by TalkBack, along with a warning if it is already used for another action. To confirm replacing the existing assignment, perform the same gesture again. Once the gesture is selected, the braille input screen closes and the user is returned to the gesture customization screen.

Note: swiping up or down with three fingers cannot be customized.

A new message to help confused sighted users who turn on TalkBack by mistake

Google has realized that some sighted people may activate TalkBack unintentionally, so it has added an easy method to turn it off. A visual banner now appears on the screen with instructions on how to disable TalkBack. When this option is enabled, TalkBack can be turned off by holding two fingers on the screen for five seconds.

Totally blind users cannot focus on the visual message containing the instructions, but whenever the option is toggled on, or when TalkBack is turned off and then back on the message is read aloud.

To turn this feature off, open TalkBack settings and uncheck Show instruction for turning off TalkBack under the General heading.

Miscellaneous

• The word emoji is now read aloud after each emoji. However, this feature only works when Google TTS is set as the default system engine.
• When selecting a large portion of text, TalkBack now reads the number of selected characters along with the beginning and ending parts of the selected text.
• The Classic keymap has been removed, which means hardware keyboard users can only use the Default keymap. The “Choose keymap” option is still present in Advanced settings → Keyboard shortcuts, but the Default keymap is the only choice available.

Additional notes

1. The new version did not change the fact that certain features only work when using Speech Recognition and Synthesis from Google as the text-to-speech engine, such as punctuation reading level and spelling the provided suggestions when using Proofread.
2. The update is for Google TalkBack only. Samsung TalkBack does not include the new features at this time. However, users who run Google TalkBack on Samsung devices will receive the update through the Play Store. We tested the new version on Samsung devices and have not encountered issues so far.
3. This post may be updated if we find other changes or bugs worth mentioning.