Google Maps Voice Navigation Isn’t Working on Android? Here’s How to Fix It (2024)

Google Maps voice navigation helps you navigate unknown places while driving without having to look at your phone's display. If you're in a frustrating situation where the voice navigation feature doesn't work on your Android phone, follow these troubleshooting steps.

Check Google Maps Navigation Settings

It's possible that you might have accidentally deactivated voice navigation in Google Maps. Ensure the feature is enabled by following these steps:

1. Open Google Maps on your phone and start navigating to any place. Tap the sound/speaker icon that appears on the right of the screen to make sure it's not muted. Ensure your phone's volume is also turned up.
2. If there's still no audio feedback, return to the Google Maps home screen. From here, tap your profile icon in the top-right corner and go to Settings > Navigation Settings.
3. Under the Sound and voice section, tap Unmuted (to ensure the sound is enabled), followed by Normal or Louder for guidance volume. Make sure to toggle on all the other switches you see.

From the same menu, you can also customize the voice assistant's language and change the map color scheme and distance units. After that, go back and start navigating again to see if you get voice instructions.

Ensure Your Phone Is Not on Silent

You might not hear Google Maps' voice navigation if your phone is in silent or Do Not Disturb mode. To fix this, switch off Do Not Disturb and ensure your phone's volume is turned up. On some phones, it's possible to mute the sound on a per-app basis, so check the volume settings accordingly.

See Also

Use Google apps and services built into your car

While you can download offline maps in Google Maps for offline navigation, it might not provide you with voice navigation in some cases. So, ensure your phone is connected to the internet if you are not getting any voice guidance.

Check the Sound Output Device

If you have a wireless audio device connected to your phone, make sure Play voice over Bluetooth is enabled in Settings > Navigation Settings. This will ensure that voice navigation audio plays through the connected speaker and not your phone's speaker.

If the setting is enabled and voice navigation is still not working in Google Maps, follow this troubleshooting guide to fix Bluetooth issues on your Android phone.

There could also be an issue with the speaker on your device, your earphones, or your car's BT audio system, so make sure your phone is sending audio output to the right one. If you've connected your phone to multiple audio devices, disconnect them and ensure your preferred device is active.

Lastly, if you have used any trick to boost the sound quality of your Android device, disable it to see if that gets Google Maps voice navigation to work.

Clear the App Cache

Clearing the Google Maps cache on Android will delete all its temporary data stored on your phone. This should help get rid of any corrupted data and might help fix the voice navigation issue you're facing.

1. Open the Settings menu on your phone and navigate to Apps > All Apps > Google Maps > Storage & cache.
2. From here, tap Clear cache.
3. Confirm your action by tapping Delete from the dialog box that pops up.

You can also choose the Clear storage (or Clear data) option. But before you do so, know that it will delete all your saved settings, downloaded maps, and routes. It will essentially reset Google Maps to its default state on your phone, and you will have to set it up from scratch again.

Update Google Maps

If there's a general issue in the app's code or a bug that causes the voice navigation to fail, Google will likely catch wind of it and send out a patch. If you have tried all the steps above, head to the Play Store to check that you are running the latest version of Google Maps available.

Similarly, you should always ensure your phone is running the latest version of Google Play Services. It powers many of the Google apps, including Google Maps. When you update Google Play Services, you're giving the app access to the newest tools and improvements, which can help fix any issues with voice navigation in Google Maps.

Restart Your Phone

A quick reset does wonders for any electronic device. So, restarting your phone can eliminate the technical hiccups that might interfere with Google Maps' voice navigation. Alternatively, you can boot your Android phone in safe mode and then use Google Maps to see if voice navigation works. If it does, reboot the phone normally.

The troubleshooting steps above should help resolve your Google Maps voice navigation issues. But if you're still out of luck, there may be more underlying causes, and contacting Google support or even your device's manufacturer—for hardware-related problems—might be the next best step.