Android-based phone users gain greater hands-free command using Google's Voice Access

An Android-based phone’s homepage using Voice Access

NorCal SCI co-founders, Nick & Franklin, recently met up with a couple of friends, Patrick and Wojtek, with spinal cord injuries who work at Google. It was great catching up with a couple of busy guys and during the course of our lunch, we were surprised to hear from Patrick that Google has made a lot of advancements that enable individuals with physical disabilities to make greater use of their Android-based mobile phones by tapping into the company’s new app, Voice Access.

Voice Access provides a hands-free experience for Android, letting people navigate through apps, compose and edit text, and talk to the Google Assistant. It provides more fine-grained controls than other voice commands you might use on your phone — for example, letting you use your voice to "click" buttons and controls within apps, or scroll and navigate app screens.

Patrick is part of the Google Accessibility Team and he was kind enough to provide us with this information about Voice Access.