Use TalkBack gestures

TalkBack gestures help you navigate and perform frequent actions on your Android device. 

Single-finger and multi-finger gestures

• Single-finger gestures are available on all devices.
• Single-finger and multi-finger gestures are available on updated Android R, Pixel 3, and other OEM devices like Samsung Galaxy.

To check if your device supports multi-finger gestures, while TalkBack is on, three-finger tap.

• If you get the TalkBack menu: Your device supports both multi-finger gestures and one-finger gestures.
• If you don’t get the TalkBack menu: Your device only supports one-finger gestures. To open the TalkBack menu, swipe down then right, or swipe up and right.

Navigate your screen

Version 9.1 and up

Action	One-finger gesture	Multi-finger gesture
Move to the next item on the screen	Right	--
Move to the previous item on the screen	Left	--
Explore by touch: Speaks the item below your finger	Drag a finger on the screen	--
Select an item	Tap	--
Move to the next reading control	Up then down	Three-finger swipe down
Move to the previous reading control	Down then up	Three-finger swipe up
Change the value for an item selected in reading control	Up or down	--
Jump to the next item Follows reading controls setting	Down	--
Jump to the previous item Follows reading controls setting	Up	--
Read from next	--	Two-finger triple tap
Activate screen search	Left then down	--
Magnification settings	Triple-tap	--

Version 8.2 and lower

Action	Gesture
Move to the next item on the screen	Right
Move to the previous item on the screen	Left
Explore by touch: Speaks the item below your finger	Drag a finger on the screen
Select an item	Tap
Move to the next reading controls	Up then down
Move to the previous reading controls	Down then up
Change the value for an item selected in reading control	Up or down
Jump to the next item Follows reading controls setting	Down
Jump to the previous item Follows reading controls setting	Up
Read from next	--
Activate screen search	Left then down
Magnification settings	Triple-tap

Scroll the screen

Version 9.1 and up

Action	Gesture	Multi-finger gesture
Scroll up or down	Two-finger swipe up or down	--
Scroll left or right	Two-finger swipe left or right	--

Version 8.2 and lower

Action	Gesture
Scroll up or down	Two-finger swipe up or down
Scroll left or right	Two-finger swipe left or right

Take action on a focused item

Version 9.1 and up

Action	Gesture
Activate	Double-tap
Long press the focused item	Double-tap and hold
Move up the slider Like volume	Up, or right then left
Move down the slider Like volume	Down, or left then right

Version 8.2 and lower

Action	Gesture
Activate	Double-tap
Long press the focused item	Double-tap and hold
Move up the slider Like volume	Up, or right then left
Move down the slider Like volume	Down, or left then right

Android system gestures

Version 9.1 and up

Action	Gesture	Multi-finger gesture
Home	Up then left	When gesture navigation is on, two-finger swipe up from the bottom
Back	Down then left	When gesture navigation is on, two-finger swipe from the left or right edge of the screen
Recents (app switcher)	Left then up	When gesture navigation is on, two-finger swipe up from the bottom and hold
Show notifications	Right then down Or, from the top of the screen, two-finger swipe down.	Two-finger swipe down from the top
Show Quick Settings	While a notification is open, two-finger swipe down	--
Dismiss notifications	Down then left	Two-finger swipe up from the bottom
Open the app section	In the home screen, two-finger swipe up	--

Version 8.2 and lower

Action	Gesture
Home	Up then left
Back	Down then left
Recents (app switcher)	Left then up
Show notifications	Right then down
Show Quick Settings	While a notification is open, two-finger swipe down
Dismiss notifications	Down then left
Open the app section	In the home screen, two-finger swipe up

Control TalkBack

Version 9.1 and up

Action	Gesture	Multi-finger gesture
Pause or resume speech	--	Two-finger tap
Start or stop media	--	Two-finger double-tap
Answer or hang up a call	--	Two-finger double-tap
TalkBack menu	Down then right	Three-finger tap
Practise gestures	--	Four-finger tap
TalkBack help	--	Four-finger double-tap
Show or hide the Accessibility menu, if you’ve turned it on	When gesture navigation is on, two-finger swipe up from the bottom	When gesture navigation is on, three-finger swipe up from bottom
Pass-through When you use the pass-through gesture, the system interprets the next gesture as if TalkBack is off. For example, if you single-finger swipe from the top of the screen, you get the notification shade.	--	Four-finger double-tap and hold
Copy text in focused item	--	Three-finger double-tap

Version 8.2 and lower

Action	Gesture
Pause or resume speech	--
Start or stop media	--
Answer or hang up a call	--
TalkBack menu	Down then right
Practise gestures	--
TalkBack help	--
Show or hide the Accessibility menu If you’ve turned it on	When gesture navigation is on, two-finger swipe up from the bottom
Pass-through When you use the pass-through gesture, the system interprets the next gesture as if TalkBack is off. For example, if you single-finger swipe from the top of the screen, you get the notification shade.	--
Copy text in focused item	--

Edit and select text

Version 9.1 and up

Action	Gesture	Multi-finger gesture
Start or end selection mode	--	Two-finger double-tap and hold
Copy selected text	--	Three-finger double-tap
Cut, while in selection mode	--	Three-finger double-tap and hold
Paste	--	Three-finger triple-tap

Version 8.2 and lower

Action	Gesture
Start or end selection mode	--
Copy selected text	--
Cut, while in selection mode	--
Paste	--

Tip: When you use TalkBack on your Android, most one-finger gestures become two-finger gestures. For example, with TalkBack on, you can two-finger scroll, but with TalkBack off, you can one-finger scroll.

Customise TalkBack gestures

You can assign most TalkBack gestures to most actions. For example, assign the 'Next' reading control to swipe down. You can also reset assignments to their default settings.

Important: Two-finger swipe gestures can’t be reassigned.

To customise gestures:

1. Open the TalkBack menu.
   • On devices with multi-finger gestures: Three-finger tap. Or, in one motion, swipe down then right.
   • On devices without multi-finger gestures (prior to updated Android R with TalkBack 9.1): In one motion, swipe down then right.

Tip: If your Android device has a fingerprint sensor, you can use fingerprint gestures with TalkBack. Select TalkBack settings Customise gestures. Choose the gesture that you want to assign to a different action. Choose the action that you want to assign to the gesture.

Actions that you can choose

Basic navigation

• Tap
• Touch and hold
• Previous item
• Next item
• Focus on the first item on the screen
• Focus on the last item on the screen
• Scroll back
• Scroll forwards
• Scroll up
• Scroll down
• Scroll left
• Scroll right

System actions

• Home
• Back
• Recents (app switcher)
• Notifications
• Quick Settings
• All apps
• Accessibility shortcut
• Hold accessibility shortcut

Reading

• Read from the top
• Read from the next item
• Pause or resume speech
• Turn TalkBack sound on or off
• Change spoken language

Menu and controls

• Open TalkBack menu
• Previous reading control
• Next reading menu
• Move navigation focus backwards or adjust reading control up
• Move navigation focus forwards or adjust reading control down

Text editing

• Start or end selection mode
• Copy
• Cut
• Paste
• Show edit options
• Switch to braille keyboard

Other

• Play or pause media
• Start voice command
• Screen search
• Pass through next gesture
• Show custom actions
• Open tutorial
• Practise gestures

Get help

For more help with Android accessibility, contact the Google Disability Support team.