Google’s services are a staple for many mobile users, and not just on Android. These apps have become invaluable and many users across the globe rely on them to go about their daily activities.

Take Google Maps for instance. The super-capable maps app is defining its category with support and users in many countries and territories around the world. Many people rely on this app to navigate through various towns and cities.

Google-Maps-inline-new

As such, a little mishap with the app is bound to affect millions of users around the world. Well, this is happening right now if reports on community forums and social media are anything to go by.

According to Google Maps users, the navigation voice changes to an Indian accent even though the users haven’t changed any language settings on their setups.

google maps indian accent voice issue reddit
Source

So I was using Google Maps on my Android device and all was well, the normal ‘female’ text to speech voice was telling me stuff and then suddenly a male voice with what sounded like a Persian accent told me to turn right. It immediately went back to the normal voice but about 3 or 4 times I got the male, accented voice giving me a single direction… Wtf??
Source

Hi. I use the English voice and it’s normally a woman’s voice. On my trip home today it was mostly the woman voice, then suddenly for one instruction, it talked in what sounded like a deep man’s voice with a slight Indian accent. Has anyone had this? Sounds crazy.
Edit: this also happened once in the morning as well. It’s odd.
Source

In short, a number of Google Maps users who have been using English as their default language note that during their trips, the navigation voice would change to an Indian accent.

Oddly enough, these Indian accent Google Maps navigation instructions appear to come intermittently, alternating between this and the set English language accent and voice.

These affected persons also add that they did not make any changes to the app prior to this occurrence and as such, it is clearly a glitch in the Google Maps system.

can't change voice google maps
Source

Also coming to light is the fact that affected users are not able to change the voice in Settings in the Google Maps app following this glitch, meaning that they’re stuck with this lovely Indian accent.

Reports of this bug have been swarming community forums and social media and in response to one of the affected Google maps users, the service’s official Twitter handle has replied, noting that they’re working on it.

google maps indian accent issue

Hi Ariel, we apologise for your experience. The team is working on a fix and it will be rolled out soon. Thank you for your patience.
Source

This is a rather interesting ailment and as the team over at Google Maps continues to work on a fix, we shall continue to keep an eye on the development and update as and when we get more info so stay tuned to PiunikaWeb.

NOTE: We have these and many more Google Maps stories in our dedicated Google section.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Clinton Madegwa
1118 Posts

A cybernaut grasping at all things tech. Lover of Android, Linux, and custom ROMS. A nerd, a writer, an avid reader.

Next article View Article

[Updated] Instagram crashing on all Android phones, but there are workarounds

Here's the crux of the article in video form: New updates are being added at the bottom of this story……. Original story from (June 5, 2018) follows: We're...
Jul 10, 2023 6 Min Read