Surely at some point you have had to live for a while without being able to make or receive calls due to the fact that the microphone of your smartphone had broken. Although today there are several ways to communicate, through apps for example, the truth is that mobile phones have all kinds of functionalities, including the real-time text function (TTR) that can be used to perform any call.
We will not always have the luck or the money to repair the hardware responsible for enabling the phone’s microphone . Luckily, there is this alternative with which we can write during a call and communicate quickly without having to wait for an SMS or the message we had left on WhatsApp to respond to us. But, for this, we must know how it is configured and, above all, how it has to be used.
The TTR tool
This is a tool that was designed with the idea of helping people with both hearing and voice difficulties. In addition, it is not a utility that we only find on smartphones with the Google operating system, but it is also available on iPhones.
Therefore, we are facing a functionality known as real-time text or TTR that will allow us to use text to communicate with whoever we want during a phone call. In addition, you will not need any additional accessories. Although, not all smartphones have this software. Therefore, the easiest way to find out if your phone is compatible is to go to the next section to learn how to activate it on your iOS or Android mobile.
View a transcript
Both on Android mobiles and on iPhone we can see the record of our call transcripts, that is, we can read the conversations we have had over and over again. It is as if we activated the function to record calls when we used the microphone of the terminal. Although, in this case, it will be all in text .
To do this, we must follow these steps:
- On Android terminals: Open the Phone application on your device> Recent> select the call and click on Call details> View transcript.
- With an Apple phone: go to the phone app> Recent and next to the call you want to review, tap on the ‘i’ icon to see more information> tap on the RTT icon to access the transcript.
Delete the details
If we want to eliminate the transcripts of the calls, both on smartphones with Google software and on Apple phones, the actions will be similar. And, the record of these texts is only saved within the call app itself. So we will have two possibilities:
- Clear the phone app data from the terminal settings.
- Delete the call from the recent call history.
How active
In order to be able to use the TTR with calls , we must activate it on the mobile device, although unfortunately not all smartphones have this possibility. Also, to find out if you can use TTR with your device and your service plan, check with your operator . Another way we have to find out is to try to activate it in the following way.
On Android
On Android mobiles, to add text assistance to your calls, you must enter the Phone app> click on the three dots> Settings> Accessibility > Real-time text (TTR). In addition, we will have the following options:
- In case you want to allow incoming TTR calls, but hiding the call button, tap Not visible.
- To show the TTR button during a call , choose the Visible during call option.
- If you want to always show the TTR button, select the Always on top option.
Also, if your Android phone is not compatible, you can always choose to use the TTY (teletypewriter) mode where we will have these options:
- If you want to hear and talk on phones without text assistance, choose the TTY off option.
- To use text written in both directions, tap Full TTY.
- If you want to type text and hear the other person respond aloud, select TTY HCO.
- To speak out loud and read the other person’s response, tap the TTY VCO option.
On your iphone
For Apple phones we must enter Settings> Accessibility> Touch TTR / TTY (it could appear as RTT because it uses the acronym in English). In the case of iPhones, all iOS 10 and later devices with a mobile connection will be able to make real-time text calls without any additional accessories. And the thing does not end here, since we will have to enter Number for TTY and enter the contact with which we will use this tool with the text in real time.
In addition, you must activate the Send option immediately so that we can send each character as we write. And finally, activate the option to Answer calls as RTT / TTY.
Use tips
The tips will work for both cases, whether you have an Android or iOS phone. The first thing to keep in mind is that the other person will be able to see the message you write in real time, contrary to what happens with chat messages. For example, if you make a mistake and delete it, they can see that you made a mistake and have deleted it.
Also, at any time the other person can request to switch to a TTR call even if you have selected the ‘Not visible’ option on your Android phone in the Phone application settings. In the case of iPhones, it will depend on whether you have this functionality enabled or not.
You should also keep in mind that TTR calls can also include audio. If the microphone is broken , you will not need to be waiting to activate or deactivate this component. And that’s not all, because we can make several calls with text in real time at the same time.
And, in an emergency, you can always use this tool to call emergency services. In addition, when making this type of calls, the standard voice call rates that we have contracted will also apply, that is, the minutes that we have contracted so that the calls are ‘free’.
