Speech Recognition and Synthesis from Google

Google's speech engine that turns text into spoken audio and speech into text for apps across the phone. You can disable it, with a caveat: read what stops working first.

What it does

Speech Recognition and Synthesis from Google, listed in some places as Speech Services by Google, is Google's speech engine. It reads text aloud for apps that use Android's text-to-speech feature, such as navigation prompts and Select to Speak, and it turns speech into text for voice typing, Recorder transcripts, Call Screen and other apps that use speech recognition. It downloads voice and language packs as needed and updates through the Play Store.

Also shown as Speech Recognition & Synthesis, Speech Services by Google, Google Text-to-speech Engine.

If you disable it

Spoken directions, read-aloud features and voice typing stop or fall back to another engine if one is installed. Call Screen and live transcription features that depend on it also stop.

How to disable it

Settings offers Disable for this package on most phones. Open Settings > Apps > See all apps > Speech Recognition and Synthesis from Google > Disable.

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tts

adb shell pm enable com.google.android.tts

The stronger option removes it for your user only; the original copy stays on the phone and a factory reset brings it back. Prefer disabling: it is easier to undo.

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.tts

adb shell cmd package install-existing com.google.android.tts

New to ADB? Set it up in about ten minutes.

Data and battery

Downloads voice and language data; recognition runs on the device or sends audio to Google depending on the feature and language.

Where it appears

• Made by Google LLC.
• Listed on Google Play: Speech Recognition and Synthesis from Google on Google Play.