Dialer app announces mute audibly: how to disable?

raxod502

Since recent GrapheneOS releases, maybe in the last six months or so, the preinstalled GrapheneOS Phone app announces audibly when I mute myself on a phone call, as well as when I unmute myself. The notification is only audible to me, but it interferes with what the person on the other end of the line is saying, and decreases it in volume. Additionally, while I am muted, a tone is played periodically, until I unmute.

This did not happen with previous versions of GrapheneOS (not sure the specific release where it changed), and it makes taking phone calls much more difficult for me. I've been unable to find any documentation about this change/feature, and it's not mentioned in the app settings. Is it something I can disable?

I'm also open to finding out that this is somehow not a GrapheneOS change, but I have no idea how it would even be possible for this to be a change by my cell carrier, and I'm using the default Phone app which is hardcoded into the ROM so I don't know how any third-party app I installed could be affecting it.

I'm currently using GrapheneOS 2026021200 on the Google Pixel 6a. Yes, I'm aware it's not the latest version - please refrain from pointing this out, or explaining the virtues of upgrading.

Johnnyloans

raxod502

Do audible announcements happen elsewhere?

I'd check the accessibility settings.
GOS system settings > Accessibility (Check 'talk back' and other settings. Maybe a user-installed app that is enabled at the top of this menu is doing it.)

Dialer app > 3 dots top right > accessibility
Although, in the GOS dialer, I don't think there is a setting that'd do this.

Let us know how it goes!

raxod502

Johnnyloans Hmm, the only two things I see in the Phone app accessibility settings are Hearing aids and RTT, both of which are turned off. And in the system settings everything is also turned off, including TalkBalk and audio description.

I don't think I have any third-party apps installed that have any functionality even marginally related to phone calls. The "make and manage phone calls" permission is granted to the built-in apps, plus AutoNotification, Tasker, and the legacy Beeper SMS bridge. But none of those latter three do anything like voice stream processing nor try to apply changes to phone calls.

Sounds like you're saying this is not an intended feature though?

de0u

raxod502 Sounds like you're saying this is not an intended feature though?

I am running 2026052401 and just placed a call and muted myself and did not observe any announcements on muting or unmuting.

Is it possible this is a helpful feature implemented by a carrier?

Johnnyloans

raxod502 I don't think I have any third-party apps installed that have any functionality even marginally related to phone calls.

I meant:

GOS settings > accessibility
Very first thing is a section called Downloaded apps

For me, the only one I have enabled is my password manager. All of the rest say off.

Hmmmm, you could always sideload an OTA -- this replaces the entire operating system.
https://grapheneos.org/usage#updates-sideloading

1 sideload replaces both boot slots.

raxod502

Okay, so I investigated. This isn't a carrier feature. It's actually from the bluetooth headphones/headset I was using (they're Trekz bone conduction headphones). However, this behavior didn't previously happen when I used these same headphones with GrapheneOS on the same phone in the past.

It seems like the problem is that the dialer app is telling the headphones over bluetooth to enable a hardware mute. Which obviously the headphones vendor did a piss-poor job of implementing. But I don't actually need a hardware mute, just having my audio not be sent over the phone line would be fine.

Is there an option in the dialer app or in the bluetooth settings to not send hardware mute signals to connected headphones? I didn't find anything when I looked.

Is it possible that GrapheneOS started sending hardware mute signals when you mute yourself in the default phone app, but didn't do so in previous versions?

de0u

raxod502 Is it possible that GrapheneOS started sending hardware mute signals when you mute yourself in the default phone app, but didn't do so in previous versions?

It is possible that Google made such a change in AOSP, in which case it would likely have been passed through.

If I were to guess, it may be a battery-saving feature (for the headphones: they can send smaller packets).

raxod502 Is there an option in the dialer app or in the bluetooth settings to not send hardware mute signals to connected headphones?

Not that I'm aware of.

raxod502

Additional data point: this does not occur on the Android 16 version of /e/OS 4.0. So if it is a feature from AOSP, it hasn't made it there yet.