Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Look, no hands! Google’s latest app lets you control a phone with just your voice

Trevor Mogg
By

google user data policy voice operation 0001
Google’s hands-free Voice Access app, which we first heard about last year, appeared in beta form on Monday, giving a few lucky testers the chance to take it for a spin.

Voice Access is aimed primarily at individuals with a disability that hinders smartphone or tablet interaction, though it’s a feature that’s bound to come in useful in any number of situations where our hands are busy with other tasks or simply too messy to touch the display.

Recommended Videos

Of course, you can already control some elements of your Android phone via voice, but Voice Access takes it to a whole new level, giving you the option of resting your hard-working fingers and handing the strain of smartphone operation to your vocal cords instead.

Related

“For example, you can say ‘open Chrome’ or ‘go home’ to navigate around the phone, or interact with the screen by saying ‘click next’ or ‘scroll down,'” Google explained in a post about the new feature.

Further functionality comes via numbers that appear at action points around the screen, as shown in the image. While this certainly helps to simplify commands even further, it could leave your display looking rather busy depending on the kind of content you’re looking at.

Voice Access is expected to land soon – and for free – in the Google Play store, and is part of several new accessibility features announced by the company. These include the ability to use voice commands to type, edit, and format documents in Google Docs, and an improved screen reader for Chromebooks.

Beta-tester positions for the Voice Access app have already been snapped up, so be patient if the idea of some downtime for your digits appeals.

In other hands-free news out of Mountain View, Google recently announced an in-store mobile payment service that means you don’t even have to reach for your smartphone – or anything at all for that matter – when it’s time to pay. Very few stores support the service at the current time, though judging by the extreme clumsiness of customers in Google’s promo video, it really couldn’t come soon enough.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Latest Street View app update will send you back in time
google maps historical street view imagery hits mobile app

Google Maps is celebrating its 15th anniversary by taking mobile Street View viewers on a trip down memory lane. Google announced on Tuesday that it is implementing a new feature that will allow people using the app worldwide to see historical imagery on their phones.

Celebrate 15 years of exploring on Street View

Read more
Google is killing off its lightweight YouTube Go app
Three phone screens showing the new Android 12 Go Edition.

Google is killing off its lightweight YouTube Go app, an app designed for phones with low storage and limited access to robust LTE and 5G networks. The company cites improvements to the mainstream YouTube app that rendered this service redundant. The app will remain available for download in the Play Store until August. The app boiled down YouTube to its essentials and stripped away things that weren't necessary like commenting, posting, or creating videos.

"When we launched YouTube Go in 2016, it was designed for viewers in locations where connectivity, data prices, and low-end devices prevented us from delivering the best experience in the main YouTube app. Since then, YouTube has invested in improvements to the main YouTube app that make it perform better in these environments, while also delivering a better user experience which is inclusive of our entire community," the YouTube team said.

Read more
Google Play Store helps find the apps invading your privacy
Instagram app on the Google Play Store on an Android smartphone.

Google has implemented a feature that requires app makers to disclose what data their apps are taking from users. Starting today, Android users will be able to see specific information about their apps' data collection through the Google Play Store. The data is accessible in the Play Store via the "Data Safety" tab listed in the information section for all apps.

With Google's announcement that the feature's rollout is live, the company notes that not all apps will be showing what privacy data they collect immediately. App makers have until July 20, 2022, to provide the Play Store with privacy information, making the feature something of a gradual rollout. It's likely that apps that take more types of data (like social media apps) will take longer to post the required info due to the sheer number of data points they collect when compared to something simpler such as an offline game.

Read more