How to Control Everything on Your Phone With Your Voice (iOS and Android)

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

Of course, traditional touchscreen input will often be the way to go. But there may be scenarios — when you’re cooking, repairing 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 usefulness of voice control is certainly well known to those who have disabilities that prevent them from controlling touchscreen phones with the usual taps and swipes.

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

voice control on android

To configure voice control on an Android device, you need to install the free Voice Access app from the Google Play Store. You’ll also need to install the Google app, but it should already be installed on whatever Android handset you have.

Once you’ve installed Voice Access, you can enable the feature from Settings. On Pixel phones, go to Accessibility > Voice Access. The exact location of the feature may vary on other handsets, but it will be somewhere in the Accessibility menu. For example, for Samsung devices, it is as follows Accessibility > Engagement and Dexterity > Voice Access.

Enabling voice access on Android.
Photograph: David Nield

During the feature’s setup, you’ll be able to tweak a few options, including whether to display the button constantly on the screen to launch Voice Access, and whether the feature always listens for commands whenever the screen is on (which is recommended for the feature).

The same Voice Access screen where you enable the feature also gives you access to some more key settings. These include options for how long your phone should wait before it stops listening for commands, how precise your phrase must be for instructions, and how voice access shortcuts are displayed on the screen.

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