Google's Voice Access app is a good solution to a special kind of problem: how to use apps designed for a touchscreen without actually touching the screen. Version 2.0 began rolling out last week to users signed up for the beta. There aren't a lot of changes to come with this major version bump, but some new voice commands and settings still made this update. If you don't already have the latest version, or perhaps you've chosen not to join the beta program, there is a download link at the bottom.

What's New

Unofficial Changelog: (the stuff we found)

  • New commands: Hide keyboard, Show keyboard
  • New Settings: Cancel on touch, Show keyboard when stopped

Show and hide the keyboard

The number of voice commands has been expanded with this update as two keyboard-specific actions join the list. Users can now put the keyboard away or bring it back into view using Hide keyboard and Show keyboard, respectively. It was technically possible to accomplish these functions before with the use of "Go Back" to hide the keyboard and re-focusing on a text field, but the new commands are considerably more obvious and intuitive.

New settings

The other new features of this update can be found at the top level of the Settings screen: Cancel on touch and Show keyboard when stopped. Both options represent behaviors that were standard in the previous versions, but now users have the option to disable them. Naturally, both are enabled by default so users won't be surprised if things change without an explanation. If either behavior was bothering you in the past, they can be turned off on the main screen of the Voice Control app.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

Version: 2.0.1

[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.accessibility.voiceaccess[/EMBED_APP]