Capture speech and view as text

You can use Live Transcribe on your Android device to capture speech and sound and see them as text on your screen. 

Step 1: Download Live Transcribe

To download Live Transcribe, go to Google Play.

Step 2: Turn on Live Transcribe

  1. Open your device's Settings app Settings app.
  2. Tap Accessibility, then tap Live Transcribe.
  3. Tap Use service. 
  4. To accept the permissions, tap OK. 

Note: If you're using a Pixel device, these steps are required to turn on Live Transcribe.

Step 3: Use Live Transcribe

  1. Make sure that you're connected to the internet.
  2. At the bottom of your screen, tap the Accessibility button Accessibility. 
    • If there's no Accessibility button on your screen, tap Live Transcribe Live Transcribe , or learn how to find the Accessibility button. 
    • If you've turned on more than one accessibility tool that uses the Accessibility button, touch and hold the button to switch between tools.
  3. Hold your device microphone near the person or sound that you want to capture. The microphone is usually located at the bottom of your device.
  4. The speech and sound appear as words on the screen.

Tips:

  • To copy and paste from the transcript, touch and hold text, then select Copy or Select transcription.
  • To clear the screen, swipe up. To bring back the transcript, swipe down. 
  • To see how much background sound and live sound is present, look at the sound indicator at the top right of your screen Sound indicator. 

Note: Google processes transcriptions but never stores them.

Type a response to the speaker

You can type a response instead of speaking during a conversation.

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Type Type.
  2. Enter text using the on-screen keyboard.
  3. To return to full-screen, tap Back Back.

Pause transcription for easier reading

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. Tap More settings.
  3. Tap Advanced, then tap Show hold button.
  4. To return to Live Transcribe, tap Back Back.
  5. To pause or resume the transcript, tap Pause Pause.

Change Live Transcribe settings

Connect an external microphone

You can use an external microphone instead of the microphone on your device.

  1. Connect an external microphone to your device.
  2. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  3. Tap More settings.
  4. Tap Microphone.
  5. Select the external microphone from the list.

Hide or show non-speech sounds

Along with speech, Live Transcribe shows non-speech sounds at the bottom of your screen. Sounds can include human sounds like "Laughing" or environmental sounds like "Doorbell" or "Music." 

To hide or show non-speech sounds:

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. Tap More settings.
  3. Tap Label non-speech sounds.

Change text size

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. To change the text size, use the slider.

Change language

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. Tap More settings.
  3. To set your primary language, tap Primary language, then choose a language from the list.
  4. Optional: To set a secondary language, tap Secondary language, then choose a language from the list.

Tip: To change language quickly while Live Transcribe is running, tap the language (such as English) at the bottom of your screen.

Save or delete transcriptions

By default, transcriptions are not saved.

Save a transcription

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. Turn on Save this transcription. 

The transcription is saved for 3 days.

Save all transcriptions

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. Tap More settings.
  3. Turn on Save transcription.

Transcriptions are saved for 3 days.

Delete transcriptions history 

  1. While Live Transcribe is running, tap Settings Settings.
  2. Tap More settings.
  3. Tap Delete history.