In this guide, we will show you the steps to fix the issue of Galaxy Watch 4 Voice to Text being stuck on initializing. The South Korean conglomerate has recently added two new members to its popular smartwatch domain. These fourth iterations are, for the first time, boasting of Wear OS (from its predecessor Tizen OS). This blends in quite well when combined with the device’s latest OneUI 4.0.
Likewise, these watches boast an impressive specs sheet and are already regarded among the absolute best in this domain. However, in recent times, its reputation seems to be taking a toll, owing to the plethora of issues that it is getting bugged with. As of now, various users have voiced their concern that the Google Voice Input isn’t working along the expected lines.
Whenever they are trying to use this feature, the app gets stuck at the Initializing screen. Likewise, some are also reportedly getting the ‘Google cannot be reached’ error message. If you are also on the same page and the Voice to Text feature on your Galaxy Watch 4 is also stuck on initializing, then the below-listed instructions shall help you fix it. Follow along.
How to Fix Galaxy Watch 4 Voice to Text Stuck on Initializing
The workaround we have shared below involves manually invoking the Gboard Microphone permission. As of now, it seems to be the only method that is giving out some degree of success to the end-users. So how did we get hold of this trick? Well, every time I faced this issue, uninstalling and re-installing Gboard fixed the problem. But it was proving to be quite an inconvenient method. Joining the dots, and I realized that two major things are happening upon re-installation.
First, the app data is being re-created, and secondly, the permissions are being re-granted. Since the app data couldn’t get corrupted at regular intervals, I negated the first approach and kept the focus on the permissions. The next time the issue arose, I didn’t uninstall the app but just re-granted the Microphone permission, which did end up fixing the issue. So without further ado, you should emulate the same, using the instructions given below.
- Head over to the Settings menu on your watch.
- Then go to Privacy and select Permission Manager.
- After that, go to Microphone and select Gboard from the list.
- Now choose “Ask every time”.
- Then bring up the Gboard app by typing a message in any app.
- After that, click on the Gboard Voice Typing icon.
- You will now get a pop-up “Allow Gboard to record audio?”, select “While using the app”.
That’s it. This should fix the issue of Galaxy Watch 4 Voice to Text being stuck on initializing. As of now, neither Google nor Samsung has rolled out any patch that rectifies this problem. So the aforementioned steps are your best bet. With that said, we will update this guide as and when there’s any development surrounding this issue. In the meantime, you could drop in your queries or tips in the comments section below. We will get back to you at the earliest.
