How to Make Your Android Announce Caller’s Name or Number

I recently bought a new car with a double DIN Bluetooth stereo system. I love driving it with my Spotify playlist connected via Bluetooth – it’s an amazing experience. One thing I love about the stereo system is that it allows me to answer my incoming calls using the car’s speakers and built-in microphone. However, the only way I could get the info about who’s calling me was through the audio system’s display, which can be a bit unsafe and might act as a distraction.

To get things done in a safer way, I am now having my Android announce the incoming caller’s name or their contact number so I can recognize who’s calling. It serves its purpose and keeps me safe on the road since I can avoid distraction. So let’s see how I was able to achieve this using a simple app called Who’s Calling.

Who’s Calling for Android

The app is free on the Play Store and can be installed on any Android device. Once it’s installed the accessibility settings need to be enabled for the app so that it can read the caller’s name. Navigate to Android Settings –> Accessibility and turn on Who’s Calling. You can now activate the app to get the caller’s name or number announced in all incoming calls.

By default the app notifies you for every incoming call and message. But you can use the app for any type of incoming alerts like WhatsApp, Hike, or even with the subject line of incoming emails.

In the free version only two apps can be activated simultaneously and one of the two needs to be turned off before activating the third. In the pro version there are no limitations or ads.

If a caller’s info is not saved in your contacts, the app will just say the number. One thing I liked about the app is that one can set a specific announcement name for a contact rather than the nickname used in your address book.

Under the app settings, tap on Edit contacts and select any contact to designate a custom name. Let’s say you have your parents’ number saved as Mom and Dad in your contact book – while getting a call, you can make your Android announce their full names instead.

Note: Who’s Calling will vocalize the notifications from any app if you specify so on the list. However, it might not work on all of them as smoothly as it works for calls and messages.

Conclusion

So that was how you can get your Android to speak the name of the person who’s calling you aloud. For me the feature is useful while I’m driving, but it can be used anytime you want to know who’s calling you without looking at the phone’s screen, be it at an office or while your hands are busy in the kitchen.

The only feature I think it’s missing is the ability to repeat the caller’s name every 5 seconds in case you miss it the first time around.