What is Voice Access?
Voice Access is a new and free app developed by Google that enables everyone to use a mobile device via voice commands, completely hands-free. It works similarly to how you use voice commands with Google Assistant and it can be operated in English, Spanish, German, Italian or French. Even though it is originally developed for people with mobility challenges, it is also beneficial for those who are multitasking, having their hands full or trying to limit themselves from touching surfaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Curious knowing how it works? Basically, inside the Voice Access app, each of the buttons/areas is marked with a number and you can just use a voice command and indicate a number to “select” the button/area you would like to navigate to. Have a look at a quick demo below
Install and setup Voice Access
There is no rocket science installing and setting up Voice Access on an Android device. Key requirements include having an Android device with operating system version 5.0 or later as well as the latest update of Google app from Google Play. It is also recommended to turn on “Ok Google” detection from any screen and download a language for offline speech recognition. Next, go to Google Play Store and download Voice Access then turn it on in Accessibility settings. Follow this instruction to get it done. The steps are very straight forward. Lastly, it is more convenient to turn on a button to start Access from any screen. To do so, simply go to Settings > Voice Access > General > Activation button ON (view the image below)
Using Voice Access to connect with friends and loved ones
One may argue that why we need Voice Access to make video calls while we can easily do that with Google Assistant app. Thus, what are the differences between the two?
Google Assistant offers voice commands, voice searching, and voice-activated device control, allowing users to have conversational interactions (1). To start using Google Assistant, we can simply start saying “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” and give a voice command. We can ask Google Assistant about almost everything from how the weather is to what the name of a good restaurant nearby is. Also, we can ask Google Assistant to show messages, send text, send emails, and video calls to friends and family members.
Well, we can do almost everything with Google Assistant, why need Voice Access right? First thing first, according to Patrick Clay – Product Manager of Google’s Central Accessibility, Voice Access gives us more controls than other voice commands we might use on our phone (2). It allows us to use our voice to interact with elements onscreen while Google Assistant only allows us to activate built-in commands. With Voice Access, we can do more than just activating a series of predefined commands, we can click, tap, scroll up and down, long-press and much more.
Besides, Voice Control gives us an ability to edit text easily while sending a message or email to someone with commands such as “Type [word or phrase]”, “Insert [word or phrase] before or after [word or phrase]”, “Replace [word or phrase] with [word or phrase]”, “Select [word or phrase]” and Delete [word or phrase]”. The good thing about Voice Access is its Help function. When we don’t know what commands to give, just say “What can I say”, Voice Access will show you a list of available commands for you to choose from. Google Voice Access commands are categorized into 4 types: Basics & Navigation, Gesture Commands, Text Editing and Stop Voice Access.
All commands can be found at https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/6151854?hl=en&ref_topic=6151842
Conclusion
Voice Access is a powerful app for accessibility. It enables us to write text, talk to Google Assistant and navigate through our apps on the device using voice commands such as clicking buttons, scrolling up and down, left and right. The app is not only useful for people with limited mobility but also beneficial to everyone who wants to limit themselves from touching their phones during this COVID-19 outbreak. If you know someone whom you think will benefit from Voice Access, please inform them or even better, help them set up and start using their phone hands-free.
References