Voice Notify
Voice Notify is an open source Android app that uses Text-To-Speech through the Notification Listener service in Android 4.3 and above to speak notification messages from the status bar when they appear, allowing users to know what a notification says without looking at the screen. It features a fully customizable spoken message and a list of installed apps which can be ignored.
Price: Free!
Open source license: Apache License 2.0
Started development: 2011-02-03
Initial release: 2011-02-13
Links
- Voice Notify on Google Play
- Voice Notify on GitHub (source code, issue tracker, release notes, APK download)
- Voice Notify on Weblate (crowdsourced translations)
Privacy Policy
Voice Notify does not collect or transmit data off of the device. However, it does use third party apps or services that may transmit data, as outlined below under "Third party apps and services".
In the unlikely event that sensitive or personal information is received by the developer, it will not be sold, shared, copied, or used without the express consent of who the information belongs to. In the absence of consent, the information will be deleted if possible.
The purpose of Voice Notify is to speak notifications, and as such it is likely that spoken notifications may be heard by people or microphones in the vicinity. It is recommended to configure Voice Notify and the device to prevent undesired spoken notifications. Use at your own risk.
The notifications received by Voice Notify are only held in memory to be displayed in the Notification Log (up to the most recent 20) and are not written to storage. This prevents other apps from accessing the data, especially if the device is rooted. As a result, if the Voice Notify process is terminated, the notification log is cleared.
Installed apps are read and listed to allow users to choose which apps have their notifications spoken. The app titles and package names are stored in a database in Voice Notify's internal private data storage on the device to save selections and act as a cache to improve performance of loading the app list.
Third party apps and services:
• Text-To-Speech engine - Voice Notify passes notification text to be spoken to the default Text-To-Speech engine, which is outside the direct control of Voice Notify. Please read the privacy policy of the TTS engine for how it uses data.
• Google Play Services may send anonymized crash and basic analytical data back to the developer to assist in improving the app.
• Messaging app - The "Contact Developer" option opens the user's chosen or default messaging app, such as an email app, and pre-populates the message with the Voice Notify version, Android version, Android build number, and device name. For an email app, the "To" field is set to the developer's address (pilota51@gmail.com). By sending the message, the user understands and consents to their name and contact information being shared with the recipient(s), as determined by the messaging app.
• Other options under "Help & Support" open the relevant external apps or websites (Play Store, Weblate.org, GitHub.com), only sending a hard coded URL to the Voice Notify page.
Below are the permissions used by Voice Notify and why they're needed:
• Bluetooth - Required to detect whether Bluetooth headset is connected.
• Vibrate - Required for Test feature while phone is in vibrate mode.
• Modify Audio Settings - Required for improved wired headset detection.
• Read Phone State - Required to interrupt TTS if a phone call becomes active.