Glossary
Live Transcribe
Live Transcribe is a Google app for Android phones that turns the speech of people around you into captions as they talk. It helps you follow a conversation. It does not type your own words into a text field, which is what dictation does.
Updated October 17, 20263 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called Live Transcribe and Notification.
Live Transcribe is a Google app for Android phones that shows the speech around you as text, in real time. You open it, and the words of the people talking appear on the screen as they speak. It is a tool for reading a conversation, not for writing your own message. Google describes it as a way to join any conversation with instant speech-to-text captions on an Android phone 1.
Live Transcribe captions other people's speech
The direction matters. In dictation, you speak and the phone writes your words into a text field. In Live Transcribe, the microphone listens to other people, and the phone shows their words as captions. A person in a meeting, a classroom or a shop counter can hold the phone toward the speaker and read along.
A concrete case: a parent at a school meeting holds an Android phone with Live Transcribe open. As the teacher speaks, the captions scroll on the screen, and the parent can refer back to a sentence they missed.
It can work without a connection once a language is installed
Live Transcribe needs a download for offline use. In March 2022 Google announced that the app would work without an active internet connection after an additional download, for places such as airplanes and underground transit 2. Language support is wide. Wikipedia reports that the app generates live captions in over 80 languages, with varying accuracy 3. Check that your language is installed before you rely on it in a place with no signal.
Why it matters for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
Live Transcribe is an assistive tool. It belongs with real-time text, the family of technologies that show spoken or typed words as they are produced. Our overview of Live Transcribe, Live Captions and voice control compares it with the other captioning and voice features on phones. For a closely related feature on Pixel phones, see Live Captions.
Captions are not a complete substitute for hearing. Captions can miss words, and a caption on a screen may not carry the tone or the pauses of speech. Treat the captions as a useful aid, and ask the speaker to repeat anything that matters if the text looks wrong.
Related terms
- Live Captions: the caption feature built into newer Android phones and Chrome, which captions media and some audio around you.
- Real-time text (RTT): a text channel in which each character appears as it is typed, so the reader does not wait for the sender to finish.
- Dictation: speaking so that your own words are written into a text field.
- Assistive technology: tools that help people with a disability use a device.
Guides and questions that cover it
- Live Transcribe, Live Captions and voice control: how the captioning and voice features on phones differ.
- How do you get live captions on phone calls?: the options for captions during a call.
- Dictation on phones and tablets: our full overview of speaking to text on iPhone, iPad and Android.
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
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Related terms
- Dictation and Voice to Text on iPhone and AndroidThe topic this term belongs to
- Allow Full AccessAllow Full Access is an iPhone setting that you switch on for a third-party keyboard before it can have open access, such as network access. Apple warns that a keyboard with this setting on is permitted to collect and transmit the text you type.
- GboardGboard is Google's keyboard app for Android and iPhone, and its microphone key turns speech into text in any app where you can type. On Android it can run speech recognition on the phone, while on iPhone the voice input is handled inside the Gboard app and sent to Google.
- Google voice typingGoogle voice typing is the speech-to-text input that Google provides on Android, so you can speak words into a text field. Its name and location vary by phone: Gboard shows a microphone key, while Samsung Galaxy phones list Google Voice Typing next to their own voice input.
- Live CaptionsLive Captions is a feature that shows text for speech and audio as it happens, using the phone's own processing. Google calls it Live Caption on Pixel phones, and Apple calls it Live Captions on iPhone. It reads what others say, so it is the reverse of dictation.
- Real-time text (RTT)Real-time text (RTT) is a way of sending text as it is typed, so the other person can read each word before the sender finishes. It is used in conversation by many deaf and hard of hearing people, and it has no send step like an ordinary text message. It is a typing channel, not a speech technology.
- Samsung voice inputSamsung voice input is the voice-to-text feature built into the Samsung Keyboard on Galaxy phones and tablets. It works only with that keyboard, so it is a separate choice from Google Voice Typing.
- Speech Services by GoogleSpeech Services by Google is the Android speech engine from Google that turns speech into text for other apps and reads on-screen text aloud. Google's Play Store listing now uses the title Speech Recognition & Synthesis, and reviews on that listing still call the app by the older name.
- Third-party keyboardA third-party keyboard is a keyboard app from a developer other than the phone's maker, which you install and switch to in place of the built-in keyboard. Apple calls the iPhone version a custom keyboard, and Apple's rules limit what it can do, such as network access and microphone use.
- Transcript Assist (Galaxy AI)Transcript Assist is a Samsung Galaxy AI feature that converts a saved recording in the Voice Recorder app into text. It works on select Galaxy models and needs a working internet connection. It transcribes recordings you already made, so it is not live dictation into a text field.
- Voice Access (Android)Voice Access (Android) is a Google feature that lets you operate an Android phone or tablet by speaking commands, such as opening an app or tapping a labelled item. Google built it for people who have difficulty using a touch screen. It is a control tool that can also enter text, and it is separate from Windows Voice Access on PCs.
- Voice message transcriptsA voice message transcript is written text of the words in an audio message, produced by the messaging app so you can read instead of listen. Apple, Google and WhatsApp each offer one, with different defaults and different privacy arrangements. It turns audio into text, the reverse of dictation.
Pages that use this term
- Dictation and Voice to Text on iPhone and AndroidTopic
- Best Dictation Apps for iPhone and AndroidGuide
- Live Transcribe, Live Captions and Voice ControlGuide
- How do you get live captions on phone calls?Question
- Is there Live Transcribe for iPhone?Question
- What is the best free voice to text app for Android?Question
- Live CaptionsGlossary
- Real-time text (RTT)Glossary