Along with the arrival of digital assistance programs like Gemini and Siri, most of us have grown up talking to our phones. But talking to your Android or iOS device can go beyond interacting with AI. You can also use your voice to launch apps, fill in text fields, and do everything that was previously possible with your fingers and thumbs.
Of course, traditional touch screen input will often be the way to go. But there may be situations—when you’re cooking, fixing something, taking care of the kids, or doing anything else that keeps your hands busy—where it’s easier and more convenient to use voice input. The importance of voice control is of course well known to those who have problems that prevent them from controlling the touch screen phone with simple clicks and swipes.
Here’s how you can set up the feature on your phone, whether you’re using Android or iOS.
Voice Control on Android
To set up voice control on an Android device, you need to install it for free Voice Access apps from the Google Play Store. You also need to have Google installed app, but this should come pre-installed on any Android mobile device you have.
After installing Speech Access, you can turn on this feature from Settings. On a Pixel phone, go to Accessibility > Speech Accessibility. The exact location of the feature may vary on other phones, but it will be somewhere in the Accessibility menus. For Samsung devices, for example, it is lower Accessibility > Interaction and skills > Speech Accessibility.
When setting up the feature, you’ll be able to adjust a few options, including whether to show an active button on the screen to launch Speech Access, and whether the feature always listens for commands when the screen is on (which is easily recommended).
The same Voice Access screen where you enable the feature also gives you access to a few more button settings. These include options for how long your phone should wait before it stops listening for commands, how precise your words should be for commands, and how Speech Access shortcuts are displayed on the screen.
Speech Access can be launched by saying, “Ok Google, start Speech Access,” or through any of the shortcuts you’ve set up in Speech Access settings (including the screen button and gesture shortcut). When the feature is active, you will see an icon showing four dots in the upper left corner, then you can start speaking to control your phone.
