Google’s accessibility enhancing Switch Access app is the latest breakout ready for smoother updates
One of the bigger debates with smartphone obsessives has been aboutsize— should they be big, likeGoogle’s Pixel 7 Pro, or small, like theAsus Zenfone 9? Left out of the discourse are people living with physical or mental impairments, but when it comes to solutions for interacting with a 21st-century necessity, the answer: to each their own. Google is now ensuring it can actually adapt Android to these users’accessibilityneeds.
The company has taken an important element of its Android Accessibility Suite called Switch Access and has made it an app which can be updated through the Play Store. Funnily enough, theAndroid Accessibility Suitewas already broken out as its own app years ago, so we can infer that users can expect even more updates than they might already do.
It lets users operate their Android device outside of the touchscreen using a switch device — this could be a keyboard of some sort or, in some cases, the phone’s selfie camera that recognizes facial gestures as commands.
The app allows users to configure their switch (via USB, Bluetooth, or using the device’s front-facing camera), determine how the app scans the screen for actionable items, how users narrow down and select a single item — either filing through single items and rows or by progressively smaller colored groups. Shortcuts can be created for routine sequences while system-side functionality is accessed through a hub menu.
9to5Googlenotes that settings for Switch Access can be reached in two ways from the same accessibility section in the system settings app: from the downloaded apps subsection as well as the interaction controls subsection.
Switch Access is a free download from the Play Store.
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