Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Android’s Live Caption feature reportedly coming soon to phone calls

Aaron Mamiit
By

Android’s Live Caption feature, which was introduced by Google on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL with Android 10, will reportedly soon work on phone calls, according to code discovered on the mobile operating system.

Recommended Videos

Live Caption, first revealed at Google I/O 2019, uses Google’s speech recognition to provide captions for almost any form of content with audio, with just one tap on the volume rocker. However, it does not currently support phone calls and video chats, even after the feature was eventually added to older Pixel devices, as well as OnePlus and Samsung smartphones.

Related

It appears that Google is finally expanding Live Caption’s capabilities, according to code discovered in the Android 11 Developer Preview for the Pixel 4 by XDA Developers.

The code revealed strings on the activation of Live Caption over a phone call. It also shows that enabling the feature will alert everyone on the phone call that what they are saying will be transcribed. “Hi, the person you’re about to speak with has call captions turned on. They’ll see captions of what you say to help them listen along,” says the audio file that will be played.

The discovery hints at the possibility of Live Caption for phone calls arriving in Android 11, which is expected to roll out within the third quarter of the year. However, there is always the chance that Google may pull the feature from the public release, possibly pushing it back to future updates for the mobile operating system.

How to activate Live Caption

For owners of Android smartphones that currently support the Live Caption feature, it is activated by playing the video, podcast, or other content that a person wants to have transcribed.

After pressing the volume up or down button, an icon will appear below the volume controls. Tapping it will make the Live Caption box appear on the screen. If the icon does not show up, the feature may be activated by going to the Sound menu under Settings, and turning on the Live Caption option.

Live Caption does not require an internet connection as the feature is processed within smartphones, with recordings not saved or archived in any way.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
Android 15 has two hidden features you’re going to love
The Android 15 logo on a smartphone.

Android 15 is this year's big Android update, and based on what we've seen so far, it's going to be pretty tame. Just like Android 14, Android 15 isn't trying to overhaul or reimagine Android. Instead, it's all about fine-tuning things.

However, that doesn't mean there's nothing cool going on. I've been playing with the Android 15 developer preview for a little while now, and in doing so, I've stumbled across two underrated features that I think a lot of people are going to love.
Notification cooldown is a lifesaver

Read more
I thought I’d hate this cheap Android phone. It proved me wrong
A person holding the Nuu B30 Pro.

I like phones like the Nuu B30 Pro. Not because it’s a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra rival or that it does something spectacular we’ve never seen before -- it’s because it is way better than I thought it was going to be.

I admit that I may have judged the Nuu B30 Pro a little harshly before using it, but I’m also happy to admit my flash judgment was wrong. Here’s why you shouldn’t write the Nuu B30 Pro off as just another cheap Android phone to ignore.
Why did I hastily judge the Nuu B30 Pro?

Read more
Qualcomm is about to make cheap Android phones better than ever
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 render.

Qualcomm is adding a new top-tier mobile chipset to its portfolio — one that takes the best bits of its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 silicon, makes some concessions, and serves it all up in a more affordable package. The result of those efforts is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which is slated to appear inside phones from Xiaomi and Honor in the coming month.

Qualcomm is once again pushing generative AI capabilities for its latest silicon, touting features like image expansion, support for AI models from the likes of Meta to create an intelligent on-device assistant, and readiness for Google’s Gemini Nano model. So far, these things have remained exclusive to Google's Pixel and Samsung flagships, but it appears that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will finally bring them to a larger audience.

Read more