Google has announced several new accessibility features coming to Android ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Wednesday. Enhanced voice dictation, expanded support for external mouse, and better expressive captions are some of the features that aim to make Android a more accessible mobile experience.
A more advanced dark theme is now available for devices running Android 16 that will automatically darken most apps, even if those apps lack a native dark mode of their own. Exclusive to Android 16, users can now choose between “Standard” and “Extended” when setting the dark theme.
For those using a mouse connected to an Android device, but who may find the clicking action difficult, AutoClick now has an improved dwell cursor experience. This feature means that the cursor will automatically click after pausing on something for a certain amount of time set by the user. The type of click can also be customized as per the user’s preference with left-click, right-click, double-click, long press, scroll or drag.
Hands-free use is a cornerstone of accessibility for mobile devices, and now Gemini-powered voice dictation within TalkBack will enable typing and text editing using natural commands. Users can begin dictating in Gboard by two-finger double-tap, after which Smart Dictation with Gemini empowers users to say things like “change Monday to Tuesday” to fix a mistake or even ask Gemini to shorten their message. Google says TalkBack is “launching soon.”
Google has also added new functionality to help blind or low vision users take photos in the Pixel Camera app. The tool can now tell the user how to describe the scene as well as whether there is a face in the frame.
Voice access is also made easier to use with a completely hands-free approach. Instead of physically tapping the phone’s screen to start using the feature, users can now say “Hey Google, start Voice Access” to get hands-free controls. This feature needs to be enabled first for it to work.
Android devices can now connect to Bluetooth LE Audio-enabled hearing aids with a single tap. This expanded use of Fast Pair is compatible with Dement hearing aids and support for Starkey products is coming in early 2026.
Finally, Google is also building AI-powered tools that try to infuse more emotion into captions. On Android, expressive captions can now “detect and display the emotional tone of speech” from audio playing on your device. The caption will be tagged with emotions like happiness or sadness. The feature is also coming to YouTube where captions will now convey the intensity of speech by using all capital letters, and writing sounds like sighs and gasps. This will be live for all videos in English uploaded after October.
With the exception of TalkBack, which is launching soon, these new accessibility features are live now. Like most Google updates, it may take some time for the update to reach every device.
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