Google Messages: "For transcripts install Speech Services"... but it already is?

hemlockiv

I received a voice message in the Google Messages app, I tapped the "Transcribe" button, and it showed a pop-up saying "For transcripts, install Speech Services by Google" with a link to install it from Play Store. I followed the link (the app's name is now called Google Speech Recognition and Synthesis) and I can see that it is already installed. I confirmed that it has battery permission to run in background as well as Network and Microphone permissions granted (just in case it was necessary), yet Google Messages still behaves like Speech Services are not installed. I have all of the Sandboxed Google apps installed, so it shouldn't be a GMS issue either.

Anyone know why Google Messages fails to communicate with Speech Services?

Dumdum

hemlockiv
My guess would be that its doing the classic "this is expected to already be on the device, so Messages only checks once", in which case you would likely need to reinstall Messages. Not sure if Speech Services are on stock Android by default or not though, so that might not be the case.