How to control everything on your phone with your voice (iOS and Android)

With arrival With digital assistant apps like Gemini and Siri, most of us have become accustomed to talking to our phones. But talking with your Android or iOS device can go far beyond just interacting with AI. You can also use your voice to launch apps, fill out text fields, and do everything that was previously possible using just your fingers and thumb.

Of course, traditional touchscreen input is often the best solution. But there may be scenarios — 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 instead. The benefit of voice control is of course well known to those who have disabilities that prevent them from controlling a touchscreen phone with the usual taps and swipes.

Here’s how to set up the feature on your phone, whether you’re running Android or iOS.

Voice control on Android

To configure voice control on your Android device, you need to install the free Voice Access app from the Google Play Store. You also need to install the Google app, but this must be pre-installed on any Android phone you have.

Once Voice Access is installed, you can enable this feature from Settings. On your Pixel phone, go to Accessibility > Voice Access. The exact location of this feature may vary on other phones, but it will be somewhere in the accessibility menus. For Samsung devices, for example, it is under Accessibility > Interactivity & Dexterity > Voice Accessibility.

Enable Voice Access on Android.

Photography: David Nield

While setting up the feature, you’ll be able to tweak some options, including whether you want to display a persistent button on the screen to turn on Voice Access, and whether the feature always listens for commands when the screen is on (which is recommended for convenience).

The same Voice Access screen where you enable the feature also gives you access to some additional key settings. This includes options for how long your phone should wait before it stops listening for commands, how carefully you can word your instructions, and how voice access shortcuts are displayed on the screen.

Voice Access can be launched by saying, “Hey Google, start Voice Access,” or via any of the shortcuts you configure in Voice Access settings (including the on-screen button and gesture shortcut). When the feature is active, you’ll see an icon showing four dots in the upper-left corner, and you can then start speaking to control your phone.