Accessibility in Google Photos

You can customize your Android device with accessibility settings and apps.

Content:

• Accessibility overview
• Cognitive
• Hearing
• Mobility and dexterity
• Vision
• Voice
• Other supported platforms
• Improve your Google Photos app experience
• Related resources

Accessibility overview

Regardless of your operating system, the Google Photos app supports the use of common accessibility features. To enhance your experience when you use an Android device or Chrome browser, you can take advantage of the Android accessibility options and Chrome accessibility options. Learn more about accessibility on other platforms.

Cognitive

Use with limited cognition

All common operating system accessibility features for cognitive and learning needs are supported by the Google Photos app. You can also highlight part of the page you’re focused on.

To highlight part of a page:

1. On your Android device, open Google Chrome .
2. At the top right, tap More Settings Accessibility.
3. Turn on Show a quick highlight on the focused object.

Learn more about accessibility on other platforms.

Hearing

Pair hearing aids with your Android device

To hear more clearly, you can connect hearing aids with your Android device.

Pair with “Connected devices”

The method below works with all types of hearing aids.

1. On your Android device, open the Settings app .
2. Tap Connected devices Pair new device.
3. Choose your hearing aid from the list of available devices.
   • If you have more than one hearing aid: Wait for the first hearing aid to connect, then tap the other hearing aid in the list of available devices. After both devices are paired, it will show the connection status.
4. To change the settings, next to the name of the hearing aid, tap the Settings icon.

Tip: If you have a Pixel phone, learn about your phone's hearing aid compatibility.

Mobility & dexterity

Control your device with Voice Access

To open apps, navigate, and edit text, you can use your voice through Voice Access.

Use with limited reach, manipulation, or strength

All common operating system accessibility features that allow interaction using a single switch or other assistive devices are compatible with the Google Photos app. You can configure this in your system settings. Learn more about accessibility on other platforms.

Vision

Use TalkBack screen reader and braille keyboard

To interact with your device with touch and spoken feedback, you can turn on the TalkBack screen reader. TalkBack describes your actions and tells you about alerts and notifications.

To enter 6-dot braille on your screen, you can use the TalkBack braille keyboard. It’s available in Unified English Braille, Spanish, and Arabic.

Turn on image descriptions from the TalkBack menu

1. On your Android device, move "TalkBack focus" to an image on your screen.
2. Open the TalkBack menu.
3. Tap Describe image.
   • The first time you do this, you’ll get a popup to turn on this feature.

Tips:

• To quickly access detailed image descriptions, you can assign a gesture to "Describe image."
• To assign a gesture:
  1. On your Android device, open the Settings app .
  2. Tap Accessibility TalkBack Settings.
  3. Under “Controls,” tap Customize gestures.

Turn image descriptions on or off in Settings

1. On your Android device, open the Settings app .
2. Tap Accessibility TalkBack Settings.
3. Under “Controls,” tap Image & icon descriptions.
4. Turn Detailed image descriptions on or off.

Change your display’s contrast & color options

• To adjust contrast or colors, use high-contrast text, dark theme, color inversion, or color correction.
• To change the size of items on your screen, adjust the display size or font size.
• To temporarily zoom or magnify your screen, use magnification.

Voice

Captions

For your device, you can choose caption preferences like language, text, and style. Learn how to change caption formatting.

• To automatically caption speech on your device, use Live Caption.
• To capture speech and sound and display them as text on your screen, use Live Transcribe.

Turn on captions

1. On your Android device, open the Settings app .
2. Tap Accessibility Caption preferences Show captions.

Audio

• To use wired or Bluetooth headphones to filter, augment, and amplify the sounds in your environment or on your Android device, use Sound Amplifier.
• To pair hearing aids with your Android device to hear more clearly, use hearing aid support.
• For Android devices with Android 13 and above, you can toggle on “Audio description” to play audio descriptions of on-screen visuals for videos.
  • You can find the “Audio description” toggle in the Accessibility settings for your Android TV or Android phone. Audio description availability may vary by video and provider

Other supported platforms

Computer

Google Photos works with several screen readers:

Operating system	Screen reader	Browser
Microsoft Windows	NVDA or JAWS	Firefox
Mac	VoiceOver	Safari
Chrome OS	ChromeVox	Google Chrome

iPhone & iPad

Google Photos is compatible with iPhone and iPad accessibility features, including VoiceOver.

Learn how to turn on VoiceOver using the Apple support website.

Improve your Google Photos app experience

With the accessibility features specific to the Google Photos app, you can select which items automatically play in your photo grid. You can also add captions to your photos.

How to turn off auto-play

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
3. Tap Photos settings Preferences Photo Grid Playback.
4. Turn the toggle on or off.

How to add caption to a Photo

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Select a photo you want to add a caption to.
3. Tap More .
   • Alternatively, you can swipe up to view the photo details.
4. Tap Add a caption….

Related resources

• Accessibility for Google Products
• Google Accessibility Help
• Android Accessibility Help