In this guide, we will make you aware of various methods to fix the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing not working in Pixel 6/Pro. The keyboard app from the Silicon Valley giant beholds quite a few nifty features up its sleeves. And if you own the latest flagships from the Search Engine giants, then you will be blessed with a redesigned Voice Typing feature. Apart from the basic task of converting Voice to Text, you could now even execute the desired tasks simply by speaking the associated word.
So if you say Send, Stop, Delete, Laugh Emoji, Heart Emoji, Next, or Previous, then it would carry out the task linked to it. At the time of launch, this feature was exclusive for the Tensor-powered devices. However, there’s speculation that older Pixel devices might get blessed with it in a subsequent feature drop. But judging by its current performance, not many would be ready to welcome it anytime soon. This is because, at the time of writing, various users have voiced their concern that the voice-to-text feature is not working in their Pixel 6/Pro device.
While they get the microphone indication and the device also indicates that it listening to their words, the end result is blank- there’s no word typed on the screen. As a result, users have no choice but to fall back to manually typing and sending the texts via the keyboard. So if the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing is not working in your Pixel 6/Pro as well, then this guide will make you aware of various methods to fix this issue once and for all. Follow along.
Table of Contents
How to Fix Gboard Assistant Voice Typing not working in Pixel 6/Pro
Do note that this is a server-side issue. None of the below-mentioned workarounds might be able to totally rectify the issue. You will get a varying degree of success with each of these tweaks and the success rate depends from user to user. With that said, I will still recommend that you try out each of the below-mentioned workarounds and see which one works best in your favor.
FIX 1: Restart Device
Restarting your device will surely rectify the issue, however, the respite will be temporary in nature. The time duration for the reoccurrence of this issue will vary- from a few hours to even a day, but unfortunately, it will re-appear. So if you are short on time, then you could give your Pixel 6/Pro a reboot and hence temporarily fix the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing is not working issue.
FIX 2: Toggle Voice Permission
Your next course of action should be to refresh and reinvoke the app’s permission. For that, you should set it to Ask Everyone for the first-time usage and then subsequently choose Always Allow. Here’s how it could be done:
- To begin with, head over to Settings > Apps > See All Apps.
- After that, select Gboard from the list and go to its Permission section.
- Then go to Microphone and select Ask every time.
- Now launch Gboard and tap on the Microphone button.
- It will now ask for the Microphone permission, tap on While using the app.
- Check if it fixes the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing is not working on Pixel 6/Pro.
FIX 3: Remove Secondary Langauge
In some instances, a secondary language could also conflict with the Voice to Text functionality. To verify if that is the case or not, you will have to remove that secondary language from your keyboard app. Here’s how:
- Launch the Google App and tap on your avatar situated at the top right.
- Then select Settings from the menu that appears and go to Google Assistant.
- After that, scroll to Languages, select your secondary language from the list and set it to None.
- See if it is able to fix the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing not working on Pixel 6/Pro.
FIX 4: Unrestrict Battery Usage
if you have put any battery restrictive measures in place, either across the device or just for this app, then you should remove it and let the keyboard app function without any limitations. Here’s how it could be done:
- To begin with, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Saver.
- Then disable the toggle next to Use Battery Saver (if enabled).
- After that, go to Settings > Apps > See All Apps > Select Gboard from the list.
- Then go to its Battery section and choose Unrestricted.
- Verify if it fixes the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing not working on Pixel 6/Pro.
FIX 5: Delete Gboard App Data
If the app’s data gets corrupted or outdated, then it might conflict with the app’s proper functioning. Therefore, you should consider deleting the data and then let it repopulate it from scratch. Here’s how:
- To begin with, head over to Settings > Apps > See All Apps.
- After that, select Gboard from the list and go to its Storage section.
- Then tap on Clear Storage > OK in the confirmation dialog box.
- Check if it fixes the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing not working on Pixel 6/Pro.
FIX 6: Reinstall Gboard
If none of the aforementioned methods spelled out success, then it could be the case of the app’s settings and configuration files getting corrupted. In such instances, just deleting the app’s data might be of no good, rather you will have to take the nuclear route of uninstalling the app and then reinstalling its latest build from the Play Store. Here’s how it could be done:
- Head over to the Gboard’s app listing page on Play Store [direct link].
- Then tap on the Uninstall button > Uninstall in the confirmation dialog box.
- Once removed, tap on Install and wait for the app to be downloaded and installed.
- Once done, launch Gboard and verify if Assistant Voice Typing not working on Pixel 6/Pro has been fixed or not.
FIX 7: Downgrade Gboard
In some instances, the latest version of the app might be buggy and unstable and could spell out trouble for the app in question. Therefore, you should consider rolling back the app to an earlier version. Along with that, you should also disable the automatic Play Store update for that app, otherwise, Play Store will update the app back to the latest version and would nullify the entire fix. So refer to the below instructions to implement this fix right away.
- To begin with, head over to Settings > Apps > See All Apps and select Gboard.
- Then scroll to the end of the page and tap on App Details. It will now take you to Gboard’s Play Store page.
- Now tap on the overflow icon situated at the top right and uncheck Enable Auto-update.
- After that, go back to Gboard’s settings menu, tap on the overflow icon situated at the top right, and select Uninstall Updates.
- Then tap OK in the confirmation dialog box. Once done, launch Gboard and check if Assistant Voice Typing not working on Pixel 6/Pro has been fixed or not.
FIX 8: Install The Latest Update
Since this is a server-side issue, it would only be rectified with a patch that Google pushes alongside the monthly updates. In this regard, Google is currently rolling out the February 2022 update for the Pixel 6/Pro devices. So make sure to download and install it onto your device and then verify the results. If you are reading this guide a few months down the line, then install the one which is the latest at that point in time. Here’s how:
- To begin with, head over to the Settings menu on your device.
- Then go to System > System Update and your device will check for the latest update.
- If found, download and install it right away and then manually reboot your device.
- Once it boots up, check if the underlying issue has been resolved or not.
So with this, we round off the guide on how you could fix the Gboard Assistant Voice Typing not working on Pixel 6/Pro. Until Google releases an official patch for this problem, the aforementioned workarounds are your best bet. In this regard, if you know of any other tweak that worked out in your favor, then do let us know in the comments section below.
Chris Dougherty
I’ve done all of this and plus more and still do not have the option to use assistant voice typing, I have the Google Pixel pro used from Amazon with Metro