Spoken directions for navigation: short or detailed, music gets quieter
The announcement should come on time, be easy to understand and not run over your music. DriveBattle for Android announces turns by timing, lets you choose between short and detailed and lowers the volume of other apps while it speaks. The spoken directions are not part of Premium.
Off, Short or Detailed
In the settings you find the group “Navigation announcements”. There you switch “Spoken directions” (“Turn-by-turn instructions while navigating”) on or off and choose between “Short” and “Detailed” under “Level of detail”. “Short” names only the manoeuvre, without street names at roundabouts, and the next turn comes as its own announcement instead of being appended. “Detailed” names streets and destinations and appends the following manoeuvre when it comes right after. The default is “Detailed”. The setting applies to the device, not to your account, and takes effect immediately in a running navigation.
Sample
“Play sample” speaks an example in the chosen level, for example “Enter the roundabout and take the second exit” in the short version. This way you hear what the level changes without starting a navigation.
When the announcement comes
The distances depend on your speed. A pre-warning comes about 20 seconds before the manoeuvre, limited to 300 to 900 meters. The actual announcement follows about 7 seconds before it, limited to 100 to 260 meters. That way it does not come too late on the motorway or too early in town. Under 40 meters the app says “Turn left now” instead of a distance. The distance it names takes your speed and the speaking time into account, so the number matches the road you then see. Since version 0.22.39 the announcements name the distance more precisely and come earlier in town.
No announcement in the middle of a turn
After each announcement the app waits six seconds before it announces the next manoeuvre. An announcement in progress is not cut off, and the pre-warning is dropped in that case. If the next manoeuvre follows closely, the announcement still comes on time. The app never announces the start manoeuvre (“Head north”). A route recalculation is announced.
Music gets quieter
Before each announcement DriveBattle requests audio focus from Android and releases it afterwards. Spotify and other players therefore lower their volume while the voice speaks and carry on afterwards. The announcements play as a navigation prompt over the audio that is currently active on your phone.
Which voice speaks
From the voices installed on your phone, the app picks the best one for the announcement language. The app has no voice selection of its own. The app does not use voices that need an internet connection, because curvy routes are often in dead zones. It sorts out placeholders without an installed language pack. The speaking rate is 1.1. If your phone already has an equally good or better voice active, it stays. Which voices exist is determined by your phone's speech output.
Texts prepared for the ear
The route calculator delivers texts that are bumpy for speech output: double spaces, capital letters in the middle of a sentence, slashes in street names, repeated sentences. DriveBattle cleans this up before speaking: slashes become a pause, lists of destinations are cut down to the first two names, and a chained announcement is kept only as long as it fits into the time until the manoeuvre. This preparation is implemented for German, English and Spanish. In the other languages the app speaks the text from the route calculation largely unchanged.
Roundabouts
At a roundabout the app announces which exit you take. The symbol in the cockpit shows the actual direction of travel in the roundabout and the correct exit, measured from the geometry of the route. In the short level the street name at the roundabout is left out.
Traffic, corners, muting
Traffic reports have their own switch (“Announce jams and road closures ahead”). The speaker button in the cockpit mutes all announcements and remembers that. The rally-style corner calls are a separate switch, they are Premium and have their own page. The spoken directions of the navigation itself are free.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I make the spoken directions quieter or shorter?
- In the settings under “Navigation announcements” set the “Level of detail” to “Short” or switch “Spoken directions” off. In the cockpit the speaker button mutes everything.
- Does the music get quieter during announcements?
- Yes. Before each announcement the app requests audio focus from Android, other players lower their volume and carry on afterwards.
- Can I choose the voice?
- No. The app automatically picks the best installed voice for the announcement language. Which voices exist depends on your phone's speech output.
- When does the announcement come before a turn?
- About 20 seconds before as a pre-warning and about 7 seconds before as the announcement, limited to fixed minimum and maximum distances. Under 40 meters it says “Turn left now” or “Turn right now”.
- Can I switch off traffic reports separately?
- Yes. The “Traffic warnings” switch in the navigation announcements is independent of the turn instructions.
- Do the spoken directions cost anything?
- No, they are not part of Premium. Only the rally-style corner calls are Premium.