Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Last year, Google removed the Live Caption toggle from under the volume slider in Android.
- While the change primarily affected Pixel users, Google is now testing a reversal of the original design.
- With the latest Android Canary build, Google is restoring the same placement for the Live Caption toggle as before the change last year.
Android’s Live Caption is a useful accessibility feature that enables subtitles for virtually any audio playing on your phone or tablet. It even works when the device’s volume is turned down to zero, allowing you to experience sound — while also emphasizing expressions — without needing to raise the volume. Its placement right under the volume slider makes it easy to access, unless you’re using a Pixel device, where accessing the toggle takes an additional step. Google now appears to realize that placement may not be intuitive and is working to improve it.
While the toggle for Live Caption typically sits under the volume bar on most devices, Google relocated it with the Android 15 beta 2 update. Instead of its regular placement, the Live Captions control was shifted to the expanded volume control sheet that appears when you tap the three-dot button under the volume slider. Specific to Pixel phones, this change introduced an additional step to enable the feature, resulting in frustration among users.
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Thankfully, Google may soon fix this and restore the toggle to its previous position. With the recent Android System Intelligence, Google added new code indicating this change. And, with the latest Android Canary build 2509, which is now available for testing, the feature has been enabled by default.
As you can see in the images above, the toggle returns to its original position. As always, if you don’t need the toggle or find it obstructing usage, you can disable it by heading over to Settings > Accessibility > Live Caption. Here, you can turn off the toggle for “Live Caption in volume control.”
With that noted, we’re unsure by when Google might implement the change more widely. Since this is only available in Android Canary, we don’t expect it to be available in the stable Android 16 build of Android 16 soon, though we hope we’re wrong about this.
This article was updated at 8:15 AM ET to indicate that the feature is live in Android Canary and not just being tested by Google.
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