As per a new report by Android Police, Google is rolling out captions for audio and video messages for Google Duo. This would allow users to transcribe voice calls in real-time.
While this service was live for many Android smartphones for audio calls, Google is making real-time transcribing possible for video calls as well via the Google Duo app.
Let roll back in time, because back in August, Google announced via a tweet by Made by Google account, announced that it will be rolling out Google Duo captions for audio and video messages.
And as per our source, the feature is indeed rolling out for the users. However, the point to note here is that this feature is live in the Google Duo app via a server-side update.
So, at the moment, some users may have this Google Duo captions for audio and video message feature. And some may not have it. But it will eventually land for everyone in the coming weeks.
The option is present under the Message Settings menu. There is a new option called ‘Captions for Messages’ which would help you transcribe in real-time. Though Google will collect data for this real-time transcription to happen. So, make a note of that.
Google Duo captions for audio and video messages uses your phone’s default language
Apparently, the audio data sent over to Google for transcription will not be stored further by Google. So, there you have it, in case you were wondering if Google would store your audio message or not.
Once you have enabled this feature, the audio will be sent over to Google and it will be transcribed. Besides, the transcription will use your phone’s default language.
This also hints that the Google Duo will work with more languages, apart from English. Notably, this feature was discovered by Reverse Engineer Jane Manchun Wong back in February.
She uncovered a ‘Captions for messages’ toggle, back in February. This option would give Google the permission it requires collecting the audio content and use it for post-processing.
And it seems like this Google Duo live caption makes use of the same process. Just for those who are thinking that this is similar to Live Caption, it is not.
Live Caption on the Pixel devices, and now on several other OEMs, can transcribe almost any word it picks up from your device’s mic.
In fact, it is not live transcribe either that takes dictation from the speakers and not from the device. Another good news about this new feature is that it is available for both Android and iOS versions of the Google Duo app.