latest
Android's latest accessibility features let you control your phone and chat with facial gestures
Google is adding two new accessibility features to Android that will let you control your phone and chat with facial gestures.
Google is adding new accessibility features to Android, called Camera Switches and Project Activate, to help users with disabilities control their phones with facial gestures. We first spotted the Camera Switches feature in a beta build of the Android Accessibility Suite app that rolled out with the first Android 12 beta release. And it's now finally rolling out to users.
Google is trying to limit what apps can use an Accessibility Service (again)
Google is once again trying to limit which apps can use the Accessibility Service API. Read on to learn more.
Android offers an Accessibility Service API that exposes certain system events to apps. The API is incredibly powerful, as it lets apps listen for events such as when a user clicks on a link, views a window, and much more. As its name suggests, the API is only meant for apps that solve an accessibility need, but it has been misused by malicious apps in the past. Due to this, Google once tried to restrict apps from using the API back in 2017. And the company is now trying to do it again.
Android 11 upgrades Voice Access to understand screen content, and the results are amazing
With Android 11, Google has upgraded the Voice Access accessibility feature to understand screen context for more intuitive controls and amazing results.
Google will release Android 11 this fall season. But, as per the usual tradition, Google has been rolling out Developer Previews for the upcoming version of Android. They even released a fourth Developer Preview back in May to compensate for the unavoidable cancellation of the Google I/O conference due to the global pandemic. Yesterday, Google announced the first Android 11 beta which brings a lot of new functional improvements, privacy features, and a few minor but aesthetic UI improvements.
Lockdown Lite is a lightweight app to lock your Android apps behind a PIN, pattern or fingerprint
Lockdown Lite / LockX is a lightweight app locker that can lock down Android apps behind a PIN, pattern or fingerprint. Check it out to know more!
There are several reasons why a user might want to lock apps separately, even in addition to the global lockscreen. For this reason, most Android OEM UX's now come with an app locker baked in, allowing users to quickly lock down app access without needing any extra app. However, if your phone does not have such functionality built-in, you can try any of the countless app lockers on the Google Play Store. To make your hunt easier, check out Lockdown Lite, a lightweight app that can lock Android apps behind a password or fingerprint.
Google Chrome is improving accessibility by auto-generating alt text for images
Google is now rolling out a new feature in Chrome which auto-generates alt text or descriptions for images to aid the visually impaired.
Chrome is undoubtedly one of the most used browsers out there; it's on your phone, on your computer, and you can even find it within other smart gadgets. And Google aims to keep it that way by adding more and more useful features to the browser. Last month we learned that Google was planning some significant updates for the browser, including a new grid tab layout, tab hover previews, and more. The company also introduced new privacy features for the browser to keep your data secure. Now, Google Chrome is getting some cool AI capabilities that aim to help the visually impaired.
Google open sources I/O 2019 app and Live Transcribe's speech engine
Google has open-sourced the Google I/O 2019 app and the Speech Engine underneath the Live Transcribe app. Read on to know more about these apps!
Google as a software company is constantly working on new apps as a means to achieve certain goals. Most of these apps are closed-source in nature, meaning that you cannot really take a look under the hood to see how those goals are achieved. But every now and then, Google also lets interested users do exactly that by open-sourcing its apps and underlying technology, giving everyone an opportunity to take a look at the science and the code behind some popular and innovative services. Google has now open-sourced the Google I/O 2019 app and the speech engine used in the Live Transcribe app.
Android P now tells you when Accessibility Services stop working
Applications that are granted permission for Accessibility Services can sometimes crash due to various bugs, and we have just discovered that Android P will actually tell the user when something is not working correctly.
Late last year, we discussed an email that Google was sending out to a number of Android application developers regarding how they were using Accessibility Services. When looking at Google's own documents for the feature, they explicitly state that it is to be used as a way to assist users with disabilities by providing user interface enhancements. However, we all know that some of the most innovative applications use it for all sorts of things. Applications that are granted permission for Accessibility Services can sometimes crash due to various bugs, and we have just discovered that Android P will actually tell us when something is not working correctly.
[Update: LastPass Unaffected] Google is Threatening to Remove Apps with Accessibility Services from the Play Store
Google is sending emails warning developers to not use Accessibility Services outside of intended use, or their apps will be removed from the Play Store.
Some of the most innovative applications on the Play Store are built on using APIs in ways that Google never intended. There are apps that can remap your volume keys to skip music tracks, record and play back touch inputs on webpages or games, and even provide alternative navigation keys so you can use your device's entire screen. All of these examples that I've just mention rely on Android's Accessibility APIs. But that may soon change, as the Google Play Store team is sending out emails to developers telling them that they can no longer implement Accessibility Services unless they follow Google's guidelines.