expo: Expo-speech not working on iOS devices with Silent Mode on

🐛 Bug Report

I’m using expo-speech in my project but the text is not read out in some iOS devices. From getting my friends to test it the results I have are:

Does Work: iPhone X. 13.3.1 iPhone 10. iPhone X. 13.3.1 iPhone 8 Plus. 13.3.1 iPhone 7+. 13.1.2

Is not working: iPhone Xs. 13.3.1 iPhone 8. 13.4.1 - This is my testing phone so I know that the sound works fine on YouTube.

It also works fine in every iOS simulator that Ive tried when developing locally.

Ive created a very simple repo (link below) to test it out with this code:

import React from 'react';
import * as Speech from "expo-speech";
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default function App() {
  setInterval(()=>{
    Speech.speak(`I am a test`);
  }, 2000);

  return (
     <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text>Open up App.tsx to start working on your app!</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
});

Using the Expo app to test it on an iPhone 8 13.4.1 it’s also not working.

Environment

Expo CLI 3.20.3 environment info: System: OS: macOS 10.15.4 Shell: 5.7.1 - /bin/zsh Binaries: Node: 12.2.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v12.2.0/bin/node Yarn: 1.13.0 - /usr/local/bin/yarn npm: 6.14.4 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v12.2.0/bin/npm Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman IDEs: Android Studio: 3.6 AI-192.7142.36.36.6392135 Xcode: 11.4.1/11E503a - /usr/bin/xcodebuild npmPackages: expo: ~37.0.3 => 37.0.9 react: ~16.9.0 => 16.9.0 react-dom: ~16.9.0 => 16.9.0 react-native: https://github.com/expo/react-native/archive/sdk-37.0.1.tar.gz => 0.61.4 react-native-web: ~0.11.7 => 0.11.7 npmGlobalPackages: expo-cli: 3.20.3

This is a bug on iOS. Ive not tested extensively on Android yet so I’m not sure if this is just an iOS issue.

Steps to Reproduce

Run my repo or snack on some iOS devices.

Expected Behavior

It should be read out “I am a test”

Actual Behavior

On some devices nothing is read out.

Reproducible Demo

https://github.com/jameschetwood/expo-sound-test

https://snack.expo.io/@jamesweblondon/sound-test

Here is my live app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/love-hiit/id1511764271?ls=1

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 4 years ago
Reactions: 3
Comments: 24 (10 by maintainers)

Links to this issue

Text to speech on React Native?

Most upvoted comments

@brentvatne Audio.setAudioModeAsync({ playsInSilentModeIOS: true }) we have to use this but we also have to play empty sound (Hack) to make it work otherwise it will not work in silent mode. you can see my full answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/62331403/8079868

+10

numandev1 on Aug 1, 2020

Still is an issue and not updated.

atakanbayil on Jul 26, 2023

@nikki93 hey, I built an app that mainly using expo-speech. From my perspective I would prefer it be an option of Speech.speak() and would expect the default playsInSilentModeIOS value false, just to make sure developer is in control of making the speech work on silent mode.

for now workout suggested by @nomi9995 works fine.

btk on Aug 27, 2020

to clarify - this means the switch on the side of your phone is in the position such that it will say “Silent mode: off” when it’s toggled to that position

i am able to repro this same thing if i have “Silent mode: on” but it works with “Silent mode: off”

brentvatne on Jun 11, 2020

Commenting since this is still currently an issue. We ran into this with our production users. Youtube and the vast majority of apps still play their sound when iOS is on silent mode so we thought we had a bug. Our users expected silencing their phone to mute notifications but not in-app sounds when they’re actively using the application.

conoremclaughlin on Jun 23, 2022

@jameschetwood turn off silent in iOS works. Please change the title of this issue; “Expo-speech not working on iOS devices with Silent Mode on”

StevePhuc on Jul 2, 2020

@brentvatne is there any way for me to implement a work around for even monkey patch this as a short term fix?

I tried this but no joy:

React.useEffect(()=>{
    Audio.setAudioModeAsync({playsInSilentModeIOS: true})
  },[])

jameschetwood on Jun 11, 2020

Working for me! I’ll message my friends who it didn’t work for and get them to confirm.

I agree that ideally it should still play when iOS silent mode is on as this did seem to confuse a number of people.

jameschetwood on Jun 11, 2020

I think what we need to do here is ensure that audio mode configured by expo-av is used by expo-speech, such that Audio.setAudioModeAsync({ playsInSilentModeIOS: true }) will result in the Speech.speak being audible when ios silent mode is enabled

brentvatne on Jun 11, 2020

@jameschetwood - is your ringer muted?

brentvatne on Jun 11, 2020

Im not sure exactly when it works and doest, but my actual app is live and a lot of people are reporting that it’s not working. So Im confident this is a real issue.

jameschetwood on Jun 11, 2020