Galaxy Mobile Accessibility

Next to the page header ”Galaxy Mobile Accessibility” there's an image of a phone that says ”Screen reader” and then an explanation that says ”Get spoken audio guidance and special controls that help you navigate without needing to see the screen.”

Screen Reader

Screen Reader

Android TalkBack

TalkBack is a screen reader that helps vision-impaired users interact with their Galaxy device for writing emails, sharing on social media and much more. It speaks the screen aloud, navigates through apps and supports many multi-finger gestures. Plus, with TalkBack 9.1 and up, you can use over 25 different voice commands.

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The top part of a Galaxy phone's screen shows a dialog box that lets you switch on the ”Voice Assistant” feature. Overlayed lower on the image is a box that says ”Speech Rate” with selector arrows on it side of the text.
The lower part of a Galaxy phone's screen shows a dialog box that lets you switch on the ”Dark Screen with Power Key.”

Dark Screen With Quick Menu

For privacy, you can set your phone to function normally with the screen off.

Quick Typing

When you touch the Samsung Keyboard, your phone is able to read out the key under your finger. Simply release your finger from the screen to select the character you want.

The lower part of a Galaxy phone's screen shows a keyboard with a letter that's enlarged as it's being typed.

Visibility Enhancements

Visibility Enhancements

Galaxy smartphone front view showing the Visibility enhancements page where the display mode can be set.

Display Mode

On Display Mode, you can increase the contrast on the screen or make the contents appear bigger. There is no need to turn on each accessibility feature such as High Contrast Fonts, High Contrast Keyboard, and Screen Zoom individually. You can choose the appropriate mode for you immediately.

* This feature will be provided from One UI 4.0.

High Contrast Theme

Use a theme with light-colored content on a dark background for easier reading and higher visibility. This helps reduce eye fatigue when using your phone in a dark environment or for a long time. There are various high contrast themes available on Galaxy Themes.

To show the contrast, Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box with a black background, bright white text and yellow trim for selectors and buttons.
A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box with a toggle for ”High Contrast Fonts” selected.

High Contrast Fonts

Adjust the color and outline of fonts to increase the contrast between the text and the background.

High Contrast Keyboard  

A variety of high contrast keyboard options increase the size of the Samsung keyboard and change the color of the keys to increase the contrast between the text and the background.

To show the contrast, Galaxy phone screen shows a keyboard with a black background and letters that are bright yellow, orange numbers, and white symbols or function keys.
A Galaxy phone dialogue box is open showing two buttons with gray colors to make them stand out.

Show Button Shapes  

Show buttons with colors to make them stand out.  

Negative Colors

Invert screen colors for better visibility.

To show contrast, a Galaxy phone dialogue box is open showing a black background with white text and buttons or toggles.
A Galaxy phone dialogue box is open with a toggle selected on for ”Color Adjustment”

Color Adjustment

Adjust how colors are displayed on the screen if you have difficulty in distinguishing colors. Your phone will then re-adjust to help make colors more recognizable.  

Color Lens  

Some people find reading against a white screen difficult or distracting, making it hard to concentrate on an article or message. If you have this problem, a Color Lens can help. Changing the color of your screen has been shown to improve reading speed and comfort.*

*This feature may not be supported depending on the model specification.  

A Galaxy phone dialogue box is open with a toggle selected on for ”Color Lens”
Galaxy smartphone front view showing the Reduce transparency and blur feature.

Reduce Transparency and Blur

Reduce transparency and blur on dialogs and menus to make them easier to see.

*This feature will be provided from One UI 4.0.

Extra Dim

Turn on Extra Dim when your screen is too bright, even at the lowest brightness setting.

* This feature will be provided from One UI 4.0
* This feature may not be supported depending on the model specification.

Galaxy smartphone front view showing the Extra dim settings page with the feature enabled and the Intensity set to half.
A Galaxy phone shows a map of Europe with times in London and Berlin. A transparent box is overlayed that magnifies the city names and times there.

Magnifier Window

Use the Magnifier window to magnify content that is hard to read in a separate, movable window.

Font Size and Style  

Change the size and style of the font.

A Galaxy phone dialogue box is open showing a font selector that increases font size.
A Galaxy phone dialogue box is open showing a slider that increases or decreases zoom on the screen.

Screen Zoom  

Change the screen zoom. It will adjust the size of the items on your screen.

Magnifier Widget  

Magnifier Widget includes features such as digital zoom, color options and capture using the camera.

A Galaxy phone shows a slider that increases or decreases zoom on screen while a camera app is open.

Hearing Enhancements

Hearing Enhancements

Sound Detectors  

Sound detectors allow the device to detect the sound of a baby crying or a doorbell ringing. Notification will be given through visual cues and vibration.

The top part of a Galaxy phone's screen shows a dialog box of the phone with text ” Baby crying detector” and the phone actively saying ”Listening” with a button at the bottom that says ”Stop”.
A Galaxy phone shows a dialogue box with a ”Mute all sounds” toggle selected on.

Mute All Sounds  

Mute all sounds turns off all sounds of the device.

Hearing Aid Support

Samsung has a number of phones that have been designed, tested and certified to potentially improve performance for users with hearing aids.*¹

*This feature may not be supported depending on the model specification.

A Galaxy phone shows a dialogue box with a ”Hearing Aid Support” toggle selected on.
A Galaxy phone shows a dialogue box with a ”Left/right sound balance” slider. A dot is in the middle of the slider. One side says ”Left” and another says ”Right”.

Left / Right Sound Balance  

Adjust the left/right sound balance to suit your hearing preferences.

Mono Audio  

Mono audio combines stereo sound into one signal that is played through all earphone speakers. Use this if you have a hearing impairment or if a single earbud is more convenient.

On the lower half of a Galaxy phone, there's a dialogue box open with header that says ”Mono Audio” and a toggle selected on.
On the upper half of a Galaxy phone, there's a screen that shows a sound wave graphic to represent human speech being recorded, the duration of the sound wave, the maximum recording time of 10 minutes and the label in the upper left ”Memo 01”.

Speech-To-Text

You can read the other person's words on your screen. Record the voice through the microphone and it will automatically convert to text.

Interaction and Dexterity

Interaction and Dexterity

Universal Switch  

Control the touchscreen by connecting an external switch, by tapping the screen or by using head movements and face gestures.

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On the middle part of a Galaxy phone, a Universal Switch dialogue box is open with four icons. A circle represents tap. A hand represents touch. Boxes represent actions. A cog shows settings.
An overlay is over a Galaxy phone screen showing icons for recent, home, back, screen off, volume, and screenshots.

Assistant Menu

Show the assistive shortcut icon for accessing apps, features and settings. You can easily control your phone by tapping the assistive menus in the icon.

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Voice Access

When you have difficulty touching the screen, you can use Voice Access to control your device by voice. Try simple navigation voice commands like "go back" or "go home." Or try opening your favorite apps. Voice Access also has grid/number view that you can invoke by saying "show grid/number" which subsequently allows you to use commands like "tap 3,” “scroll down on 7” and so on to control the current screen.

* This feature will be provided from One UI 4.0.
* Voice Access currently supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish with plans to support more languages in the near future.

Galaxy smartphone front view showing the Voice Access menu settings page with the feature enabled.
A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box open with a graphic of a hand tapping a phone screen.

Interaction Control  

Turn on interaction control mode to restrict your phone's sensitivity to touch interaction whilst using apps.  

Tap Duration

Adjust the length of an interaction that must be held to be recognized as a tap. This will help reduce your unintended tap action mistakes.

A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box open with the header ”Tap Duration” with a toggle switch off and the number 0.1 seconds to show the length of time that represents a tap.
A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box open with the header ”Ignore Repeated Touches” with a toggle switch off and the number 0.1 seconds to show the length of time that represents a tap.

Ignore Repeated Touches

Some people find touch interaction to be difficult due to tremors. If you have this kind of problem, Ignore Repeated Touches can help. Set a time which then will ignore any repeated touches during the period after the initial touch.

Answering and Ending Calls  


You can use the Volume up key to answer calls and the Power key to end them.

A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box open with the header ”Answering and Ending Calls” with four toggle switches selected on for these functions ”Read Call Names Aloud”, ”Press Volume Up to Answer”, ”Automatic Answer”, and ”Press power key to end.”
A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box open with the header ”Easy Screen Turn on” and a graphic of a hand over the top of a phone laying flat.

Easy Screen Turn On  

Turn on the screen by moving your hand above the sensor at the top of your phone. You can turn on the screen without pressing any keys.*

*This feature may not be supported on some models released in 2019 or later depending on the product specifications.

Single Tap To Swipe

When an alarm sounds or a call comes in, tap the button to stop the alarm or answer the call instead of dragging the button.*

*This feature may not be supported on some models released in 2019 or later depending on the product specifications.

A Galaxy phone screen shows a dialogue box open with the header ”Interaction and dexterity” and then a toggle selected on for ”Single Tap to Swipe”.
A Galaxy phone screen shows a large arrow point to the right with small dots below it to suggest there might be other directions.

Direction Lock

If you have difficulty using pattern locks, you can simply unlock your phone with the direction combination you set.*

*This feature is not supported for new models from 2019.  

Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings

Power and Volume Up Keys

Quickly press the Power key and the Volume Up key at the same time to turn accessibility features on and off.

A Galaxy phone shows a pop-up from the bottom of the screen with the header ”Direct Access” and the following below it: ”Accessibility” and ”Voice Assistant” selected off and ”Universal Switch” selected off.
A Galaxy phone shows a dialogue box open with a graphic of a phone depicting the camera going off and two toggles underneath it selected on for camera flash and screen flash.

Flash Notification

Flash notification flashes the camera light or the screen when you receive notifications or when alarms sound.

Notification Reminders  

Set the device to alert you to notifications that you have not checked at your pre-set intervals.

A Galaxy phone shows a dialogue box open with a header that says Notification Reminders and a toggle switch below it selected on.
On the upper half of a Galaxy phone, there's a screen that shows a sound wave graphic to represent human speech being recorded. Above it is the duration of the sound wave being recorded with the numbers: 16:92

Voice Label  

You can use NFC tags to distinguish objects of similar shape by attaching labels to them. You can record and assign a voice recording to an NFC tag. The voice recording is played back when you place your phone near the NFC tag.

Speak Keyboard Input Aloud

You can have the text you typed in read out loud using Samsung Keyboard.

Galaxy smartphone front view showing the Speak keyboard input aloud settings page with the feature enabled to read Characters.
A Galaxy phone shows a dialogue box open with the header ”Reset Accessibility Settings” some text about what happens when you reset and below that is the button to ”Reset Settings.”

Reset Accessibility Settings  

Reset accessibility settings to their defaults, separately from the other settings.  

Accessibility point of contact

For all accessibility questions – large or small – please reach out to our Accessibility Team via email at accessibility@sea.samsung.com or phone at
972-761-7123.

Accessibility database

For details about specific Samsung devices, please visit the Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative (GARI) database at http://www.gari.info/.

Compliance Hotline

If you have any questions or need to report concerns regarding any activities you feel are unlawful or unethical, contact the Samsung North America Compliance Team.

Report an issue

¹Galaxy Smartphones models that have been tested and rated for use with hearing aids include: Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy A50, Galaxy Note 10+ 5G
Galaxy S20+ 5G, Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, Galaxy Note 10 5G, Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy S20 FE 5G, Galaxy S20+ 5G, Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Galaxy Note20 5G,
Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, Galaxy A11, Galaxy A51,
Galaxy A21, Galaxy S21 5G, Galaxy S21 Ultra,
Galaxy S21+ 5G, Galaxy A01.