Is it possible to have text your typing read back to you on an Android device?

On my Mac I can select text I have typed and then press some keys to get it read back to me. It's great when I'm writing something.

On a Windows PC I use some third party software called ClaroRead and it does the same think. Great

The question is, does anyone know away of doing this on an Android device? I've been trying text to speech options with my Gmail app but it struggles when I'm in draft mode typing an email. It just wants to read the options.

I can read the text when not in draft mode, after gone through having all the options spoken first,. However I cannot edit text in this mode.

It maybe that Google want you to speak your email or even my posts or replies on this forum but when your in a public place, you may not wish to do that.

Seems to be a good guide to it https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-hands-speechtotext-android/

Clip said:

Seems to be a good guide to it https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-hands-speechtotext-android/

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Thanks for the link. That seems to focus on speaking into your mobile. That is something I struggle to do as it involves speaking and thinking at once.

I'm looking for an app to read back what I have typed. It's perfectly possible on Windows and Mac computers.

Maybe I'm a dinosaur and all the kids just speak into devices naturally. Or maybe they just haven't bothered catering for people like myself.

Android TalkBack can do this, but it's a lot more than just a screenreader unfortunately, so it's possible you'll end up with unwanted functionality targeted at the visually impaired.

Adam Williams said:

Android TalkBack can do this, but it's a lot more than just a screenreader unfortunately, so it's possible you'll end up with unwanted functionality targeted at the visually impaired.

Click to expand...

Yes I tried Talk Back but I couldn't get on with it as it kept doing stuff I didn't need and it was off putting.

Timely enough, I noticed today that Claro Software brought out an Android app called ClaroCom, back in February. It allows you to type text and have it speak. It can then be shared with other apps is my understanding.

I have a lot of time for Claro Software, using ClaroRead Pro my PC and Mac, as well as their Chrome extension, so will give it a try.

Incidently that has just given me an idea. Google do not support Chrome extentions on Android but there are two other apps based on Chromium open source that Chrome is based on, that do support Chrome extensions. These being Yandex Browser and Kiwi Browser.

Thus I could try one of those and see if the ClaroRead extension works.

I know this is going to sound odd but have you looked at Blind charitys and what they may have to offer in the way of apps?

Clip said:

I know this is going to sound odd but have you looked at Blind charitys and what they may have to offer in the way of apps?

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I haven't. My father is registered blind but if he had a mobile, in addition to his laptop, which he doesn't, he would just use the built in tools. They probably work well for someone who is blind.

I've not had time to test the other browsers yet. I'm low on space and have encountered an issue with Google Photos choosing not to back up a few photos, whilst backing everything else up.

They weren't even showing up in Google Photos using device view, even though they were on my device and aren't any larger than others on it. In this case I followed previous advice, which had worked. Thus is to clear the cache and app data. Alas this time its led to duplicates of all my photos, bar those which didn't upload. Most are uploaded and the duplicates are not.

So I shall sort that out and then test the apps once I've cleared some space.

So I installed the Kiwi browser and was able to install the ClaroRead Chrome app.

Alas then I hit a problem. When I select text, most of the time a context menu appears. As soon as that appear pressing on the play button has no effect.

When the context menu doesn't appear and I've selected text it works. There seems to be no way of closing a context menu when it opens.

Also when I have a post window such as this and press the read button, this window text is highlighted in grey and it does nothing.

So up shot is it doesn't work as it's not designed for mobiles. I was hoping it might still work despite this limitation.

I shall try ClaroCom next.