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Disable / Turn OFF TalkBack (Talk Back) Mode in Samsung Galaxy S4 Marshmallow vs Lollipop vs Jelly Bean/Kitkat

Edited by Eng, Lynn, Leomar Umpad, Alma and 12 others

3 Methods:

Marshmallow

Lollipop

Jelly Bean/Kitkat

The Samsung Galaxy S4, like its predecessors, has a feature called TalkBack. TalkBack is designed to aid those with sight impairments use their phones, though it can also be a handy feature for those times when you can't look at your phone but need to use it.

When TalkBack mode is on, the phone announces everything it is doing. For example, when you start your browser, it says, "Loading page." If you have enabled this feature but don't know how to switch it back off, this VisiHow guide is just for you. Below we take you through the steps to disable TalkBack on Jelly Bean, Kitkat, Lollipop, and Marshmallow.

Method 1: Marshmallow

When in TalkBack mode, everything takes longer to do.

You have to first tap the item you wish to open, then when you see it highlighted in blue, double tap it to proceed. To scroll, place two fingers side-by-side and move them up or down the screen.

1
From the home screen, single tap the "Apps" icon
.
When the icon is outlined in blue, double tap it.

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2
On the Apps screen, single tap "Settings"
.
When the icon is outlined in blue, double tap it.

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3
Inside Settings, place two fingers together side-by-side and swipe down until you reach the Personalisation section
.
Single tap "Accessibility", when it's outlined in blue, double tap it.
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4
On the Accessibility screen single tap "Vision"
.
When it is outlined in blue, double tap it.

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5
While on the Vision screen, single tap "TalkBack" until it's outlined in blue, then double tap it.
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6
On the TalkBack screen, single tap the green switch at the top of the screen
.
When it's outlined in blue, double tap it.

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7
A pop-up will ask if wish to disable TalkBack
.
Single tap "OK" until it's outlined in blue, then double tap it.
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Method 2: Lollipop

When your device has TalkBack enabled it narrates every action along with how many item/icons are on the screen.

You have to single tap everything to select it, before double tapping the item to continue. To scroll up or down, place two fingers side-by-side and keep them together.

1
On the home screen, single tap "Apps"
.
When it's outlined in green, double tap it.

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2
From the Apps screen, locate and single tap "Settings"
.
When it's outlined in green, double tap it.
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3
Inside Settings, single tap the "My device" tab near the top
.
Once it's highlighted in green, double tap it.
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4
On My device, place two fingers side-by-side and scroll down to "Accessibility"
.
Single tap it until it's outlined in green, then double tap it.

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5
Inside Accessibility, single tap "Vision" until it's outlined in green, then double tap it.
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6
On the Vision screen, single tap "TalkBack"
.
When it's outlined in green, double tap it.

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7
On the TalkBack screen, single tap the green switch near the top
.
Once the switch is highlighted in green, double tap it.
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8
On the following pop-up, single tap "OK" until it's outlined in green, then double tap it to turn off TalkBack.

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Method 3: Jelly Bean/Kitkat

Contents

1 Turn off TalkBack mode on your Samsung Galaxy S4
- 1.1 To Turn off TalkBack, Follow These Steps
2 If Turning Off TalkBack Does Not Stop Your Galaxy S4 From Talking to You
3 My phone still talks even after doing the steps above?
- 3.1 Disable Driving Mode
- 3.2 Disable Text to Speech (TTS) Engine
4 Questions and Answers
5 Comments

Turn off TalkBack mode on your Samsung Galaxy S4

When TalkBack mode is turned on, your phone will notify you of every tap you make.

Every tap also requires a confirmation tap, so traditional gestures do not work. During TalkBack, a simple tapping gesture is replaced by a double-tap, while a swipe gesture will require you to use two fingers. This feature is designed to help visually impaired people use their phones, so one tap will speak out what you are tapping on, two taps will execute what you are tapping.

To Turn off TalkBack, Follow These Steps

1
While on your Home screen, double-tap your phone's Menu key, then double-tap Settings.

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From Settings, double-tap the My Device tab.

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Accessibility is in the My Device tab; however, you still need to perform a swiping gesture using two fingers to see it.

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Once you see the Accessibility option, double-tap it to open the settings

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From Accessibility, look for TalkBack

It should say ON, and you can simply switch it to OFF by double-tapping it.

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On the TalkBack page, double-tap the switch to turn it off.

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TalkBack mode is now deactivated

You can perform commands using the normal gestures to operate your device.

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If Turning Off TalkBack Does Not Stop Your Galaxy S4 From Talking to You

Some owners have reported that even after turning TalkBack off, their Galaxy S4s still talk to them. This issue is caused by Samsung's TouchWiz Android launcher. To work around this issue, you can follow the steps below:

1
Un-tick every option or application that is using the accessibility features on your phone
.
One of those apps reported to use the feature is LightFlow, so you may want to start by un-ticking all the options there. Tap the boxes to remove the marks and disable their accessibility features.
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2
Disable the TalkBack Service
.
From your Settings, go to Application Manager, and tap on the All tab. Scroll down until you locate TalkBack, tap it, and then select Disable.
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My phone still talks even after doing the steps above?

If your phone keeps on talking even after disabling TalkBack Mode and doing the other procedures above, you may still have your Driving mode or the TTS (Text to Speech) Engine activated. To deactivate Driving mode, follow this guide:

Disable Driving Mode

1
Go to your Home screen by pressing the Home button.
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2
From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon (lower-right part of the touchscreen) where all of the applications on your device can be seen.
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3
From the list of applications on your phone, look for Settings and tap it to open the app.
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4
From Settings, tap on the My Device tab.

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5
From My Device, go to the Personalization section and tap on Driving Mode.
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6
You can turn off Driving mode completely by tapping on the switch
.
This will turn Driving mode off. You can also select items that you want your phone to read to you by tapping on each individual item while Driving Mode is turned On.

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7
Once Driving Mode is turned off, your phone will stop reading out items, messages, and alerts.
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Disable Text to Speech (TTS) Engine

There are some applications and accessibility features that use the Text to Speech Engine. If you feel that you need to completely turn it off, follow the procedures below:

1
Go to your Home screen by pressing the Home button.
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2
From the Home screen, tap on the Apps icon.
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3
From the list of applications on your phone, look for Settings and tap it to open the app.
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4
From Settings, tap on the More tab.

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5
Under the More tab, go to the System Manager section and tap on Application Manager.
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6
From the application manager, go to the All tab and scroll down to Google Text-to-Speech engine and Samsung Text-to-Speech engine.

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7
Tap each one of them and tap the Disable button that pops up.
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8
You have successfully disabled the text-to-speech feature on your phone.

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Questions and Answers

This section is dedicated to answering questions related to this VisiHow article.

My phone is speaking out the characters on the password field?

Your Samsung Galaxy S4 has a feature that reads out the characters entered on password fields. This feature can be a big help to some people, but other people may view it as a security issue. If you have activated it by accident, follow the guide below to deactivate it:

While on your Home screen, double-tap your phone's Menu key, then double-tap Settings.
From Settings, double-tap the My Device tab.
Accessibility is in the My Device tab; however, you still need to perform a swiping gesture using two fingers to see it.
Once you see the Accessibility option, double-tap it to open the settings.
From Accessibility, look for TalkBack. It should say ON, and you can simply switch it to OFF by double-tapping it.
On the TalkBack page, double-tap the switch to turn it off.
TalkBack mode is now deactivated. You can perform commands using the normal gestures to operate your device.

Hello, I have a Galaxy S4 and somehow the TalkBack got turned on. I want it off but it disabled my scrolling! Help!

Yes, this TalkBack feature is quite annoying if you don't need it. The feature is built with the visually impaired in mind, so your phone's functions are a bit different when it's enabled. You will need to tap Settings once to highlight it and then tap it again to confirm your tap. Once you have gotten to the Accessibility option, use two fingers and swipe the screen up or down to scroll the page far enough to turn TalkBack OFF. Check out the video below for more details:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at215z0mUdc&list=PLHxVHTKYFzQ9if7PVpbrzWyDekA9ro8G_&index=8

Where is my soft key on my Galaxy S4 phone?

What do I need to tap to turn off speech?

The soft keys are the two buttons to the right and left of your home button. You actually do not need them in order to turn off the TalkBack feature. Find the Settings icon on your home screen, and tap on it once to select/highlight. Tap on it again to enter Settings. From here, you'll need to use two fingers and swipe down until you see the Accessibility option. Tap on it once to highlight, and tap again to select. You should now see the TalkBack option and you can turn it OFF. Watch this video for more details on these instructions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at215z0mUdc&list=PLHxVHTKYFzQ9if7PVpbrzWyDekA9ro8G_&index=8

My accessibility feature is ON and I need it OFF?

My accessibility feature is ON but now I can't see the option to turn it OFF. How do I scroll down when in accessibility?

You need to use two fingers to scroll when TalkBack mode is enabled.