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The Ultimate Guide to Using Voice Control on Mac

From reading aloud the contents of your screen to moving the pointer with your head, Apple has always packed its macOS with useful Accessibility features. These features assist users, especially the ones with disabilities, in navigating and using their Macs. Voice Control is one such feature, and as its name suggests, it lets you control your Mac with your voice. This guide shows you all you need to know about using Voice Control on your Mac.

How to Turn On Voice Control on Mac

Things you can do with voice control, basic navigation, overlays & mouse, text selection, text navigation, text deletion, how to add languages to voice control, switching languages, how to add custom voice control commands, import/export custom commands, delete custom commands, how to add your own vocabulary to voice control, import/export multiple custom vocabulary, delete custom vocabulary, how to use item number and grid overlays with voice control, number overlays, grid overlays, how to use voice control commands with voiceover, frequently asked questions.

After you enable Voice Control you can speak select commands and Voice Control will perform the respective actions. As long as you’re running macOS Catalina or later, you can turn on and use Voice Control following the steps below:

• Click the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your Mac. From the drop-down menu, click “System Settings.” On older versions of macOS, this option will read “System Preferences.”

• From the System Settings window, scroll down the left sidebar and click “Accessibility.” You can also look for it using the search bar in the top-left corner of the window.

• Click “Voice Control.”

• Click the toggle to the right of “Voice Control” to enable the feature.

• If you’re turning on Voice Control for the first time on your Mac, wait for a few minutes for macOS to finish a one-time download from Apple.
• Once Voice Control is enabled, you will see a microphone button on your screen.

• Click “Sleep” if you want to deactivate Voice Control temporarily. The “Sleep” button will then change to “Wake up” for you to reactivate the mic.

• Alternatively, you can also say “Go to sleep” to make it sleep and “Wake up” to resume.

Tip : you can do more than just talk to your Mac. In fact, you can have your Mac talk to you by enabling Live Captions in macOS Ventura .

There’s a much you can do with Voice Control. To see the full list of available commands, say “Show commands.” Alternatively, head to “System Settings -> Accessibility -> Voice Control” and click “Commands.”

With “Basic Navigation” commands, you can easily navigate through your Mac by using Voice Control. The feature understands different apps and their functions. So, for instance, you can say “Open Safari” and “Close Safari” to open and close the browser. You can also ask it to scroll up or down by saying “Scroll up” or “Scroll down.”

If you want to enable dark mode, say “Open System Settings. Click General. Click Dark,” and your Mac will enable Dark Mode. Once you’re done, say “Close window” to quit System Settings.

In Overlays & Mouse, you can say commands like “Show numbers” or “Show grid” to enable numbers or grid overlay. For basic mouse navigation, you can also speak commands like “Single-click,” “Double-click,” “Triple-click,” “Long press,” “Click and hold mouse,” and “Release the mouse.”

To move the cursor in any direction, just say “Move cursor <direction> <count> pixels,” where direction can be left, right, up, or down, and count can be the number of pixels you want to move the cursor.

When you’re in a text field, for instance in a mail message or document, then you can speak whatever you want to insert in the text field. You can say “Type <phrase>” or just “<phrase>” and Voice Control will type that.

You can also insert punctuation marks, symbols, and emojis by saying “exclamation mark,” “ampersand sign,” and “surprised emoji.”

Voice Control is intelligent enough to understand commands contextually. So, you can transition between a command and dictation seamlessly. For instance, to replace a phrase, you can say “Replace I’m leaving with I have left .” Similarly, you can also say “Congratulations. Click Send.” It will first type “Congratulations,” then will send the response.

Voice Control provides a plethora of text selection commands that you can use to select the text in any way possible. From simply saying “Select all” to saying “Extend selection back <count> paragraphs,” you can select whatever you want.

Just like with text selection, there is also a long list of commands that you can use to navigate through the text. You can use commands like “Move to the end of the word” or “Move to the beginning of the sentence.”

Text Editing

After selecting the text, you can edit and format it however you would like. For instance, say “Bold that” to bold the text. Similarly, you can cut, copy, paste, italicize, underline, undo, redo, correct, replace, and insert text.

There are many delete commands that you can choose from to delete anything. You can say “Delete that,” and Voice Control will delete whatever you typed last. Also delete entire sentences, paragraphs, and particular words.

By default, Voice Control uses the language that you’ve selected for your Mac. However, it supports multiple languages. To change or add languages, from these steps:

“System Settings -> Accessibility -> Voice Control:”

• Head to “System Settings -> Accessibility -> Voice Control:”
• Click the “Language” section to open the drop-down menu, then select “Customize.”

• Select the languages you want to be added to your Voice Control’s list and click “OK.”

• Make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet and wait for the languages to download.

Good to know : Voice Control is just one of the many ways you can use accessibility on your Mac to customize your macOS experience .

The shorter way to switch between different languages is from the Voice Control settings:

• Click the “Language” drop-down and select the language you want to use.

• An even quicker way of switching languages is from the on-screen mic pop-up, where you can click the language and choose from the list.

If you want to remove the downloaded languages, click “Customize” from the menu again and deselect the languages the same way you selected and downloaded them.

Voice Control also gives you the option to create your own custom commands. For example, you can define a “What’s cool” command and set it to paste the text “Voice Control is cool.” Now, every time you say “What’s cool,” Voice Control will paste “Voice Control is cool.” in a text field.

To create custom commands, from the Voice Control accessibility settings:

• Click the “Commands” button.

• From the left sidebar, below the list of commands, click the “+” (plus sign) button.

• In the “When I say” text field, type the command you want to use.

• In the “While using” pop-up menu, select the app where the command should be used.

• Choose the action that needs to be performed in the “Perform” pop-up menu.

• Depending on the action, additional information may be required. For example, if you choose the “Paste Text” action, enter the text you want pasted when you say the command.

• To save, click “Done.”

The shorter and quicker way of adding commands is to say “create command” or “make this speakable” when Voice Control is active. This would launch a “Dictation Command” window. Enter the command name and specify the application and the action that it should perform, as illustrated above.

If you are switching to a different Mac, you can export your custom commands so that you won’t have to create them again.

• Click the “three dots” in the bottom-left corner of the Voice Control settings.

• Click “Export Custom Commands” from the drop-down menu.

• Select a destination location and click “Export.”

If you’ve accidentally created a custom command in error, here’s how to delete it.

• In the Voice Control settings, click “Commands.”

• From the list of commands in the left sidebar, select the custom command you want to delete, then click the “–” (minus sign) button.

You can also delete all custom commands. But before you do, remember that once deleted, these custom commands cannot be recovered and you will have to redefine them from scratch. Here’s how you do this:

• Click “Delete All Custom Commands.”

• Finally, click “Delete.”

To make it easier to work on specific apps or documents, add custom words and phrases to a Voice Control language that supports custom vocabulary.

For instance, if you work on medical documents, you can enter the word “hemianopsia” to make sure it is entered correctly every time you say it to Voice Control.

To add your own vocabulary, from the Voice Control settings:

• Click the “Vocabulary” button.

• Click the “+” (plus sign) button.

• In the pop-up window, type the word or phrase you want to add to the vocabulary and click “Save.”

• Click “Save” again.

You can also say “Add to vocabulary” to Voice Control after selecting a word or phrase, and it will be added quickly to the vocabulary.

If you’re planning to change Macs, then you won’t have to add each vocabulary term again. Instead, just export it from your old Mac to your new one by following the steps below:

• In the Voice Control settings, click the “three dots” on the bottom-left corner, then click “Export Vocabulary.”

• In the pop-up window, select the file format and language, then click “Continue.”

Once the file is exported, you can import it back on your new Mac to add all of your custom vocabulary terms. Follow the steps below from the Voice Control settings:

• Click the “three dots” in the bottom-left corner, and click “Import Vocabulary.”

• From the file browser, navigate to the vocabulary file and click “Select.”

• Click “Import.”

• Voice Control will update you once the import is complete.

Just like with custom commands, you can also delete a term from your custom vocabulary. Here’s how:

• In the Voice Control settings, click “Vocabulary.”

• From the list of vocabulary terms, select the term you want to delete.

• Click the “–” (minus sign) button, then click “Save.”

• You can also delete your entire custom vocabulary. Do this by clicking the “three dots” in the bottom-left corner, then “Delete All Vocabulary.”

• Click “Delete.”

Your custom vocabulary will be deleted.

When you’re using Voice Control to navigate and use your Mac, you may find it difficult to recall a command anfor a certain action. If this happens, overlay your Mac screen with numbers that mark each item and label or with a grid that can divide your screen.

To get started with number overlays, say the command “Show numbers.” Every clickable item on your screen will have a number assigned to it. This way, you can say commands like “Click 12” and the item whose number is 12 will be clicked.

Number overlays make it easy to interact with complex items. For instance, when you make a Google search, you can just say “Click 7” to click the link with the number 7 instead of reading the entire link.

If you want number overlays at all times, say “Show numbers continuously.” Later on, you can say “Hide numbers” to turn off number overlays.

While number overlays are used to navigate through items whose names aren’t obvious or easy to speak, grid overlays make it easy to interact with parts of the screen that aren’t directly clickable with Voice Control.

Just say the command “Show grid” and your Mac screen will be divided into a numbered grid pattern. When you say the grid number, that grid will be subdivided into another grid pattern. This way, you can drill down to any area of the screen and click anywhere you want.

You can also get a grid overlay on only the active window by saying “Show window grid.” To turn on the grid overlay at all times say “Show grid continuously.” To turn it off, say “Hide grid.”

Tip : ready to take your workflow to a whole new level? Number and grid overlays are an efficient way to boost hands-free productivity on your Mac, but you can also supercharge your shortcut menu with these Mac apps .

VoiceOver is another great accessibility feature that assists users with visual impairment by reading aloud the contents of their screen. Users can combine the functionality of Voice Control with VoiceOver to navigate through their Macs with ease.

This means that VoiceOver will read aloud what’s on your screen, then you can use Voice Control to navigate through your screen. Voice Control also offers a list of commands specific to VoiceOver. You can say “VoiceOver describe image,” “VoiceOver speak summary,” “VoiceOver stop speaking,” and much more.

To go through the full list of commands available for VoiceOver, say “Show commands” or scroll down to the Accessibility section.

How can I receive an alert when a command is recognized in Voice Control on Mac?

Sometimes users may find it difficult to judge whether Voice Control has recognized a command. For this, you can toggle the “Play sound when the command is recognized” option from the Voice Control settings.

Can I change the microphone for Voice Control on Mac?

Yes, you can change between multiple microphones easily when using Voice Control. This feature is helpful for users who have multiple microphones. Just head over to “System Settings -> Accessibility -> Voice Control,” click the “Microphone” pull-down option, and select the microphone you want to use.

Can I disable standard commands for Voice Control?

Yes, you can disable standard commands for Voice Control to prevent accidental clicks. To do this, head to “System Settings -> Accessibility -> Voice Control” and click “Commands.” From the list of available commands, search for the one you want to disable, toggle its checkbox, and click “Done.”

Image credit: Unsplash . All screenshots by Hashir Ibrahim .

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With over two years of in-depth experience working in technical fields, Hashir is a master content creator who loves writing about Mac and iOS at major tech publications on the internet like MakeUseOf and MakeTechEasier. Hashir spends his free time boxing and designing his business.

Appendix A. Commands and Gestures

This appendix lists VoiceOver commands and gestures, organized into categories.

General commands

Use these commands to turn VoiceOver on and off, get help, change basic settings, and enable and disable Commanders.

Note: If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function key.

Turn VoiceOver on or off

Lock and unlock the VO (Control and Option) keys

Open VoiceOver Utility

Open the VoiceOver Help menu

Open the VoiceOver Quick Start

VO-Command-F8

Open VoiceOver online help

Start keyboard help

Hear a description of the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Open the Commands menu

Open the Find menu

Close a menu or rotor, stop an action, or exit a mode

Tell VoiceOver to ignore the next key combination you press

Open the verbosity rotor

Then press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to choose the setting. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to change the level for the setting.

Magnify the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Shrink the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Temporarily hide or show the VoiceOver cursor and the caption or braille panels

Hide or show the caption panel only

VO-Command-F10

Resize or move the caption panel

Press again to cycle through these actions. Then use the arrow keys to resize the panel or move it. Press the Shift key with the arrow keys to move in smaller increments.

Hide or show the braille panel only

VO-Command-F9

Resize or move the braille panel

Tile visuals (dim the screen, highlight the caption or braille panel, and show the item in the VoiceOver cursor in the center of the screen).

Press again to return to the normal view.

Enable or disable the NumPad Commander

Enable or disable the Keyboard Commander

Enable or disable the Trackpad Commander

Press the VO (Control-Option) keys and rotate two fingers on the trackpad clockwise (enable) or counterclockwise (disable)

Turn the screen black (screen curtain)

VO-Shift-F11

Cycle through speech settings (rate, pitch, volume, intonation, voice)

VO-Command-Right Arrow or Left Arrow

Change the current speech setting (rate, pitch, volume, intonation, voice)

VO-Command-Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Press and release mouse button

VO-Shift-Space bar

Interaction commands

Use these commands to interact with items on the screen.

Interact with an item

VO-Shift-Down Arrow

Stop interacting with an item

VO-Shift-Up Arrow

Perform the default action for the item in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-Space bar

Select a menu or list item

Select multiple items

Turn off cursor tracking to use this command.

Perform a sticky mouse down or mouse up (for use when dragging an item from one location to drop in another location)

VO-Command-Shift-Space bar

Click the item under the mouse cursor

Press once for a single mouse click and two times to double-click.

Open or close a disclosure triangle

Read a row in a table

Read a column in a table

Read the column header in a table

Read row and column numbers in a table

Sort a column in a table

Interact with scroll bars

Then use the arrow keys to scroll up or down or side to side. Use Page Up and Page Down to scroll vertically one page at a time. Use Shift-Page Up and Shift-Page Down to scroll horizontally one page at a time.

Resize a window or an object

Move a window or an object

Then use the arrow keys to move the window. Use Shift with the arrow keys to move in smaller increments.

Stop scrolling or resizing

Navigation commands

Use these commands to move around the screen, move inside windows and webpages, and control cursor tracking.

VO-Up Arrow

VO-Down Arrow

Move to previous

VO-Left Arrow

Move to next

VO-Right Arrow

Move to the top of the visible area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located

On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to the bottom of the visible area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located

On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Right Arrow.

Move to the top of the area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located, scrolling if necessary

On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to the bottom of the area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located, scrolling if necessary

On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Right Arrow.

Move to the top of a window, the first item in the Dock, or the first item on your desktop, depending on your location

On some keyboards, press VO-Command-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to the lower-right corner of a window, the last item in the Dock, or the last item on your desktop, depending on your location

On some keyboards, press VO-Command-Fn-Right Arrow.

Move to the front the window where the VoiceOver cursor is located and make it active

VO-Shift-F2

Close the window where the VoiceOver cursor is located

VO-Command-F2

Open the Item Chooser

Move to the Dock

Move to the desktop

Move to the menu bar

Move to the first status menu in the menu bar

Open the Spotlight menu

Open a shortcut menu

Jump to a linked item (for example, from a Mail message in the Inbox to its message text)

The command doesn’t change the settings in VoiceOver Utility.

VO-Shift-F3

Move VoiceOver cursor to keyboard focus

VO-Shift-F4

Move keyboard focus to VoiceOver cursor

VO-Command-F4

Move VoiceOver cursor to mouse cursor

VO-Shift-F5

Move mouse cursor to VoiceOver cursor

VO-Command-F5

Jump command (used with the next four commands)

Jump to the edge of an area

VO-Shift-arrow keys

Jump to the visible edge of an area

VO-arrow keys

Jump to the area that precedes a horizontal or vertical splitter

Jump to the area that follows a horizontal or vertical splitter

While finding text, cycle through search item history

VO-Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Navigate in given direction, wrapping when necessary

VO-Command-Shift-arrow keys

Set or remove a hot spot

VO-Shift-[number key]

Open the Hot Spot Chooser

VO-[number key]-[number key]

Jump to a hot spot

VO-[number key]

Hear a description of a hot spot

VO-Command-[number key]

Monitor a hot spot

VO-Command-Shift-[number key]

Jump back to a parent folder

VO-Command-\

Orientation commands

Use these commands to hear where the cursors are located and what is open on the screen.

Hear the application summary

Open the Application Chooser

Hear the window summary

Open the Window Chooser

Describe the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Describe the size of the item in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-Command-F3

Describe the position of the item in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-Command-F3-F3

Describe the item that has the keyboard focus

Describe the location of the insertion point (from upper-left corner of screen)

Describe the item under the mouse cursor

Describe the location of the mouse in x, y coordinates (from upper-left corner of screen)

Describe the location of the mouse (from upper-left corner of window)

VO-F5-F5-F5

Describe the selected item

Read everything in the VoiceOver cursor

Read everything visible in the window or the Dock, or on your desktop, depending on your location

Repeat the last spoken phrase

Copy the last spoken phrase to the Clipboard (also called the “Pasteboard”)

Save the last spoken phrase and the crash log to a file on the desktop for troubleshooting

Search commands

Use these commands to search for text attributes, graphics, controls, and other items in text documents and webpages.

Find the next searched text

Find the previous searched text

Find the next list

VO-Command-X

Find the previous list

VO-Command-Shift-X

Find the next bold text

VO-Command-B

Find the previous bold text

VO-Command-Shift-B

Find the next style change

VO-Command-C

Find the previous style change

VO-Command-Shift-C

Find the next italic text

VO-Command-I

Find the previous italic text

VO-Command-Shift-I

Find the next color change

VO-Command-K

Find the previous color change

VO-Command-Shift-K

Find the next font change

VO-Command-O

Find the previous font change

VO-Command-Shift-O

Find the next table

VO-Command-T

Find the previous table

VO-Command-Shift-T

Find the next underlined text

VO-Command-U

Find the previous underlined text

VO-Command-Shift-U

Find the next control

VO-Command-J

Find the previous control

VO-Command-Shift-J

Find the next different item

VO-Command-D

Find the previous different item

VO-Command-Shift-D

Find the next item that’s the same type as the current item

VO-Command-S

Find the previous item that’s the same type as the current item

VO-Command-Shift-S

Find the next graphic

VO-Command-G

Find the previous graphic

VO-Command-Shift-G

Find the next heading

VO-Command-H

Find the previous heading

VO-Command-Shift-H

Find the next link

VO-Command-L

Find the previous link

VO-Command-Shift-L

Find the next heading of the same level

VO-Command-M

Find the previous heading of the same level

VO-Command-Shift-M

Find the next plain text

VO-Command-P

Find the previous plain text

VO-Command-Shift-P

Find the next visited link

VO-Command-V

Find the previous visited link

VO-Command-Shift-V

Find the next misspelled word

VO-Command-E

Find the previous misspelled word

VO-Command-Shift-E

Text commands

Use these commands to read and edit text and tables. Before you can use most of these commands, you must interact with text in a text area.

Read all text from the VoiceOver cursor to the end of the text

Select all text in the VoiceOver cursor

Start and stop text selection in a text field (text selection tracking must be on)

Speak text attributes

Add a hot spot in text

Jump to a hot spot in text

Read paragraph in VoiceOver cursor

Read next paragraph

VO-Shift-Page Down

Read previous paragraph

VO-Shift-Page Up

Read sentence in VoiceOver cursor

Read next sentence

VO-Command-Page Down

Read previous sentence

VO-Command-Page Up

Read line in VoiceOver cursor

Read next line

Read previous line

Read word in VoiceOver cursor

Press twice to hear the word spelled; press a third time to hear the word spelled phonetically.

Read next word

Read previous word

Read character in VoiceOver cursor

Press twice to hear the phonetic character.

Read next character

VO-Shift-Right Arrow

Read previous character

VO-Shift-Left Arrow

Move to first visible word

On a portable computer, press VO-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to last visible word

On a portable computer, press VO-Fn-Right Arrow.

Move to beginning of text, scrolling if necessary

On a portable computer, press VO-Shift-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to end of text, scrolling if necessary

On a portable computer, press VO-Shift-Fn-Right Arrow.

Add new tab stop (in TextEdit only when the VoiceOver cursor is on a tab stop in the ruler)

Delete the current tab stop (in TextEdit only when the VoiceOver cursor is on a tab stop in the ruler)

Interact with tab stop (in TextEdit only when the VoiceOver cursor is on a tab stop in the ruler)

Then use the Left and Right Arrow key to move the stop.

Reads the current word and character in the VoiceOver cursor

Reads the total number of lines and the number of visible lines in a document

Web commands

Use these commands to navigate and interact with webpages.

Move to the next column

VO-Command-Y

Move to the previous column

VO-Command-Shift-Y

Move to the next frame

VO-Command-F

Move to the previous frame

VO-Command-Shift-F

Move to the next auto web spot

VO-Command-N

Move to the previous auto web spot

VO-Command-Shift-N

Move to the next web spot

VO-Command-]

Move to the previous web spot

VO-Command-[

Open the Web Item rotor

Read from the current location on a webpage to the end of the page

Read from the beginning of a webpage to the current location

Read a link address (URL)

Read the next sentence

Read the previous sentence

Read webpage statistics

Remove a web spot

VO-Command-Shift-{

Set a web spot

VO-Command-Shift-}

Set the sweet spot

VO-Command-Shift-}-}

VoiceOver standard gestures

If you’re using a Multi-Touch trackpad, you can use VoiceOver gestures. VoiceOver provides a set of standard gestures for navigating and interacting with items on the screen. You can’t modify this set of gestures.

Note: Gestures that don’t mention a specific number of fingers are single-finger gestures.

Enable the Trackpad Commander and VoiceOver gestures

VO-Two-finger rotate clockwise

Disable the Trackpad Commander and VoiceOver gestures

VO-Two-finger rotate counterclockwise

Turn the screen curtain on or off

Three-finger triple-tap

Mute or unmute VoiceOver

Three-finger double-tap

Force the VoiceOver cursor into a horizontal or vertical line when you drag a finger across the trackpad

Hold down the Shift key and drag a finger horizontally or vertically

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the next item

Flick right

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the previous item

Move content or the scroll bar (depending on the Trackpad Commander setting)

Three-finger flick in any direction

This gesture moves the VoiceOver cursor to the Dock wherever it’s positioned on the screen

Two-finger double-tap near the bottom of the trackpad

Go to the menu bar

Two-finger double-tap near the top of the trackpad

Two-finger double-tap on the left side of the trackpad

Two-finger double-tap on the right side of the trackpad

Jump to another area of the current application

Press Control while touching a finger on the trackpad

Interaction

Speak the item in the VoiceOver cursor or, if there isn’t an item, play a sound effect to indicate a blank area

Touch (includes tap or dragging)

Select an item

You can also split-tap (touch one finger and then tap with a second finger on the trackpad)

Start interacting with the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Two-finger flick right

Stop interacting with the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Two-finger flick left

Scroll one page up or down

Three-finger flick up or down

Escape (close a menu without making a selection)

Two-finger scrub back and forth

Increase or decrease the value of a slider, splitter, stepper, or other control

Flick up (increase) or flick down (decrease)

Read the current page, starting at the top

Two-finger flick up

Read from the VoiceOver cursor to the end of the current page

Two-finger flick down

Pause or resume speaking

Two-finger tap

Describe what’s in the VoiceOver cursor

Three-finger tap

Change how VoiceOver reads text (by word, line, sentence, or paragraph)

Press the Command key while touching a finger on the trackpad

Change the rotor settings

Two-finger rotate

Move to the previous item based on the rotor setting

Move to the next item based on the rotor setting

To customize other gestures by assigning VoiceOver commands to them, use the Trackpad Commander.

Assigning VoiceOver commands to gestures

If you need a reminder about what a gesture does, press VO-K to start keyboard help, and then use the gesture on the trackpad and listen to the description.

Learning about keys, keyboard shortcuts, and gestures

New and changed VoiceOver commands in Mac OS X 10.6

VoiceOver in Mac OS X introduces several new and changed commands.

Turn the Keyboard Commander on or off

Speak the location of the insertion point

Turn on or off the grouping of items within a table

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the next column (only when items within tables are not being grouped)

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the previous column (only when items within tables are not being grouped)

Next auto web spot

Previous auto web spot

Next web spot

Previous web spot

Delete web spot

Set web spot

Set sweet spot

Next misspelled word

Previous misspelled word

Next sentence

Previous sentence (in documents and webpages)

Next page (documents only)

VO-Page Down

Previous page (documents only)

Size of item in VoiceOver cursor

Position of item in VoiceOver cursor

Read an element’s help tag

Read an element’s VoiceOver hint

Open Web Item rotor

Open Hot Spot Chooser

Move a UI element

VO-Command-`

Open resize UI element menu

VO-Command-~

Open VoiceOver Online Help

Open Commands Help menu

VoiceOver adds support for gestures when using a Multi-Touch trackpad. You can use standard VoiceOver gestures, which you can’t change, and other gestures which you can customize by assigning VoiceOver commands to them.

About VoiceOver gestures

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An Introduction to macOS Voice Control

• accessibility

Finally! A way to yell at your computer and have it actually listen.

Voice Control was first introduced in a beta for macOS Catalina. Like its name implies, it “allows you to edit text and interact with your computer by speaking to it.” If you’re using a Macbook or an iMac, good news! It already has the microphone you’ll need in order to try this out.

Much like my previous article on macOS Head Pointer , I figure I could show you how it works before I talk more about it:

In this video I am using Voice Control to scroll down the thoughtbot.com homepage , then navigating to our Services page . After that I search for “product design sprint,” then navigate from the first result to our blog post on the topic.

Why does this exist?

Not everyone uses a keyboard, mouse, or trackpad to use a computer.

Much like why Head Pointer exists, there are many permanent and situational motor control disabilities that may prevent you from using your arms or hands. They range in severity from things like a permanent spinal cord injury or Cerebral Palsy to Arthritis or circumstantially being prevented from using your hands .

A range of assistive technology options exist to help people experiencing these conditions. For voice command, the most popular options for deep, long-form use are Dragon and Talon .

Interestingly, voice commands have become far more popular and normalized for short-form use. Think about how ubiquitous voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google are. This isn’t the first, nor will it be the last example of how assistive technology gets normalized into the mainstream .

What can I do with it?

Pretty much anything you can do with a mouse, keyboard, or trackpad you can do with Voice Control. And much like Head Tracking, that’s the whole point. Inclusive Design teaches us that providing a comparable experience is vital, and Voice Control is a perfect example of such an experience.

How can I design and develop for it?

The most reliable way to ensure your web development work can be used by Voice Control? Use semantic HTML . The reason for this is Voice Control utilizes accessible names, a core part of how assistive technology is built.

How to create an accessible name

Consider this submit order button:

The phrase “Submit order” is a text string placed inside a button element:

Since we’re using a semantic button element , assistive technology not only knows that it is a mechanism it can interact with, but also that it is a button and not a link, input, or other interactive control. A semantically neutral div element will not communicate this.

Assistive technology will then look for a string inside the button element and use the information to generate an accessible name . This is how you’re able to say “submit order” and Voice Control will know what you mean.

Issues with unlabeled buttons

Providing an accessible name is also one of the reasons why it’s important to question if an icon alone is sufficient for communicating a button’s purpose:

Is this like? Vote? Approve? Something else? In some countries it means something a whole lot different!

Without a visible label, a button’s purpose can be difficult to determine, and consequently use. In addition to not having an accessible name, relying on iconography alone can also run into issues with the user’s:

• level of cognition,
• level of technological literacy,
• level of familiarity with the domain, and
• cultural background.

Having a visual label is the best solution. Unfortunately, sometimes there are situations where you can’t have your way. This is especially common in working situations where there isn’t a good rapport between development and design.

In these situations there are two techniques you can use to ensure an accessible name is still provided, even though there is not a visible label present:

The first technique is to use text wrapped in a span element that is hidden visually via CSS . The second is to use the aria-label attribute :

Of the two techniques, visually hidden via CSS is preferable. Certain browsers cannot translate labels generated with aria-label , to say nothing about ARIA’s first rule of use .

This is one of the tricky things about accessibility: something that technically works in one scenario may not be ideal for others. The key is to try and support the widest ranges of circumstance from the beginning.

Clarifying what does what

Another good practice is to ensure accessible names don’t repeat. If you have 10 “learn more” links on a single page or view, it is tough to express which link you want to take action on. A great way to address this is to specifically name what the reader will learn more about in the link’s text.

Similarly, observing the “verb noun” pattern is great for naming actions. What are you saving? What are you deleting? This disambiguation both helps with cognitive considerations as well as providing a way to target a specific control if you’re not using a mouse or trackpad.

If this bucks your existing designs, know two things:

• Most of your users won’t notice or care if you update it,
• and if you get an extreme amount of pushback to make these changes you can still use the visually hidden CSS technique to make things accessible:

It’s more than just button

Anything that can be interacted with needs an accessible name . The best way to go about this is, again, to use the appropriate semantic element. a for links, button for buttons, label for input , textarea , select , etc.

If you’re already using semantic HTML, good on ya. You probably don’t have to do any work to ensure your website or web app is accessible.

How do I enable it?

Let’s try it out! If you are using macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later:

• Go to System Preferences .
• Go to Accessibility .
• Scroll down the sidebar to go to Voice Control , located in the Motor section.

You’ll then want to check the Enable Voice Control checkbox. If this is your first time using it, you may see a notification prompt about needing to share your voice data with Apple so they can process it and turn it into a workable command. If you allow it, two new UI elements will show up, the microphone and a commands list:

The microphone is an indicator to show your Mac is listening to and processing commands. Saying “ go to sleep ” pauses listening to prevent accidental command activation, and can be unpaused by saying “ wake up .” The commands list is a cheat sheet to help you learn some of the phrases you can use.

How do I use it?

Voice Control allows you to use basically every command made available to you on macOS. However, there’s two main things you’ll be doing during your day-to-day: navigating around and typing things.

For the most part, you can get around by saying two commands:

• “ Click x ,” with x being the labeled UI you want to activate.
• “ Scroll up ”, “ Scroll down ”, “ Scroll left ”, and “ scroll right ,” as well as “ Scroll to the top ” and “ Scroll to the bottom .”

In addition, there are two helpful commands to know: Show numbers and Show Grid .

Show numbers

Show numbers assigns a number to every interactive piece of UI on the screen. You can then say “ click number ,” with number being the UI you want to activate.

This screenshot has been cropped for clarity. Numbers 1-30 have been applied to other UI that is not present in this screenshot.

How does Voice Control determine what is interactive on the web, and therefore it can activate? You guessed it: semantic HTML.

Can’t click on something by name or number because someone didn’t know to use semantic HTML? Don’t worry, Apple has you covered.

Saying “ show grid ” makes macOS put a numbered grid over your entire screen:

From there you can say one of two commands:

• “ Click number ,” with number being the whole area you want to activate.
• “ Choose number ,” with number being the grid cell you want to zoom in on.

The “ choose number ” command can be used multiple times, allowing you to zero in on a specific part of the screen. This can be helpful for scenarios where there is a tiny UI element that needs to be activated, or an element that has not been semantically described.

Here’s a video of that in action:

In this video I am using Voice Control’s choose number command to zoom in on, and select Safari’s encrypted connection notification lock icon on their URL bar.

Typing words

To type content into text fields, say the content you’d like to type out loud. If you would like to insert punctuation, say it as you dictate your content. For example, here’s a video of me dictating the sentence, “ Hey, how is your day going? ”

If you make a mistake, you can also use the phrase, “ Delete the previous number characters/words/sentences. ”

In this video I am using Voice Control’s deletion command to remove 22 characters from the end of a sentence, turning it from “Accessibility is cool, but difficult to do.” to “Accessibility is cool”.

Additional commands

You can do a lot more with Voice Control! You can review the full list of commands by either clicking on the Commands… button in the Voice Control pane in System Preferences , or review this article from iMore .

Customizing things

Much like Head Pointer, you can tweak Voice Control to better accommodate your needs. You can use two commands to do this: Vocabulary and Commands .

If you press the Vocabulary… button on the Voice Control preference screen, you can open up a list where you can add your own words. Here, I’ve taught Voice Control the word “ thoughtbot .”

This allows Voice Control to learn regional terms, jargon, and other words it does not have in its default dictionary.

If you need to extend the functionality of Voice Control, you can do so by pressing the Vocabulary… button on the Voice Control preference screen. Here, you can add, remove, activate, and deactivate Voice Control commands.

Here, I’ve created a custom command to open our guides repo in my default browser any time I say the phrase “ thoughtbot guides .”

An observant reader may notice that I’m chaining the custom vocabulary word I just created into a custom action. This is a little trick to namespace commands to both help guard against accidental activation and scope the intent of what I want to do.

You’re not limited to just opening URLs, either. You can also:

• Open one or more Finder items,
• Paste text,
• Paste data,
• Press a keyboard shortcut,
• Select a menu, and
• Run a preset or custom workflow.

This range of flexibility gives you near-unlimited customization options.

My thoughts

I don’t identify as disabled , but I still enjoy and appreciate Voice Control.

I’ve started to take note of, and create automation for repetitive and obscure tasks, and then use custom Voice Control commands to perform them for me. In quarantine, I don’t have a loud office to contend with, so I can more confidently use voice commands without risking someone accidentally activating something on my laptop.

But I will stress that something I enjoy and benefit from was designed for disability-first use. We need to acknowledge that, as well as internalize it. Understand that assistive technology such as Head Pointer and Voice Control may be the primary way someone uses their computer.

As you create digital products, keep this in mind and do your part to create robust, accessible, and inclusive experiences. If that’s something you’d like help with, get in contact today !

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How to tell your Mac what to do with Voice Control

One of the problems of everyday life is that sometimes you are encumbered with a task that prevents you from properly using your computer with both hands. While this could be as serious as a medical condition or a disability, it can also be from a more mundane and temporary issue that hampers your computing capabilities.

For some users, it could be something as simple as needing both hands for feeding a baby or to prevent a kitten from interfering with someone else's practical task. Even eating in front of the screen can get in the way of doing work.

To solve this problem, Mac users should turn to a feature known as Voice Control.

What is Voice Control?

An accessibility feature introduced in macOS Catalina , Voice Control simply provides users with ways to control their Mac using their voice. By speaking commands, the Mac can then act on those instructions.

By that description alone, it sounds quite similar to making Siri queries, in that you're speaking to the Mac with an expectation of something being done for you. This isn't a great comparison, as while Siri can be useful for general queries or tasks it is programmed to perform, Voice Control is much more direct in how it works with macOS .

When using Voice Control, you're effectively instructing the Mac to do a particular thing. For example, you can tell macOS to open a menu in an application, click an option from a list, or drag items from one designated part of the screen to another, all with voice.

It can also apply to practically any application you can run on macOS, without requiring Siri-friendly hooks or other items. Ultimately, it turns your voice into a simulated mouse.

Getting started with Voice Control

To use Voice Control, you first have to enable it. Naturally, it is within the Accessibility section of System Preferences.

How to turn on Voice Control in macOS

• Click the Apple logo in the menu.
• Select System Preferences .
• Select Accessibility .
• Scroll down to Voice Control in the left-hand sidebar.
• Click Enable Voice .
• If required, authenticate with the Mac to confirm you want it activated.

Once enabled, a microphone icon will appear on the desktop, showing the detected volume of the selected microphone. You can change the microphone by using the Microphone dropdown within the Accessibility screen, while another dropdown will let you switch between different installed languages that will work with Voice Control.

You can quickly start and stop Voice Control detection by saying "Wake up" or "Go to sleep." Alternately, click the Wake Up or Sleep option on the aforementioned microphone icon.

Another dropdown box called "Overlay" will give you the option to permanently show two different types of overlay, which will be crucial to the Voice Over experience.

Item Numbers

The first option, Item Numbers, will add a series of numbers next to selectable items on the screen. This can include icons, options within a menu, and individual files in a folder.

This is useful as you can instruct macOS using numbers rather than the name of options. For example, it may be easier to say "Click 25" than to say "Click familyholidaytripbarcelona2019-1.jpg" and hope to be understood.

Rather than permanently on, you can leave this off and summon the numbers whenever you want by saying "Show numbers." They will also automatically appear in menu lists, even if the option isn't selected.

Numbered Grid

The other main overlay option, Numbered Grid, creates a grid that covers the entire macOS desktop, including applications. Each grid space is numbered, with the idea being that it can be used to select specific points in the desktop like you would a mouse.

Instead of being on permanently, you can ask macOS to Show grid" to bring it up temporarily, or alternately "Show window grid" to limit it to the currently active window.

If you say a grid number, macOS will then subdivide the cell down into a smaller grid, which you can then again say a number within to narrow down further until the required area is selected. To help see the smaller grid, you could say "zoom" then the cell number to zoom into that area.

To select an item in a cell, narrow down to it and then say "Click." If you want to drag an item, you can use the "Drag" command, such as "Drag 38 to 2."

If you want to see the grid without numbers, state "Hide numbers." To hide the entire grid overlay, say "Hide grid."

If you are using a word processor or another application where text is involved, you can naturally use Dictation within Voice Control to say sentences. Like Siri dictation for messages, you can make a statement, and it is interpreted and inserted into a document or a text box.

Before dictating, make sure you have selected the application or text box in a place where text can be edited.

You can add punctuation to a sentence by saying "period" or "question mark." Emoji can also be added, by saying the emoji's name, along with formatting such as "Bold that" or "Capitalize That."

You can select text verbally by saying something like "Select previous word," though this can also apply to paragraphs and sentences. "Move up a sentence" or "move up a paragraph" can quickly move the cursor around within a document.

Deletion is also available, such as "Delete all" to wipe a document or "Delete that" to remove the last thing you uttered.

If you want to replace text, you say Replace" followed by the words you want to change, followed by "With," then the words you want to use instead. For example, "Replace tenth birthday with eleventh birthday."

As well as treating Voice Control as a mouse, you can also ask it to perform from a very long list of commands. You can bring up a list of commands you can use straight away by stating "Show commands."

The list is extensive, including opening and closing applications by name, creating and saving documents, selecting different fields in a form, and various forms of clicking, selection, and deletion.

The list also includes lots of fine-control options, such as moving the cursor in a direction and by a specific number of pixels.

If you want to see alternate versions, you can click the Commands button within the Accessibility menu. Select an item from the list, and it will show all of the different ways you can say a command for macOS to interpret it correctly.

If you are getting repeated misinterpretations of a command, you can disable the command in the same menu by unchecking the box next to it.

The same menu also enables you to set up custom commands. For example, you could set the command "Visit AppleInsider " to open up a browser window.

How to add custom Voice Control commands in macOS

• Open the Voice Control preferences.
• Click Commands .
• Click the Add button, the plus symbol in the bottom-left corner.
• Enter the command you want to use in the When I say box.
• If required, select the designated application in the "While using" dropdown. This will limit the command to work only in a specific application if selected.
• In the dropdown box for Perform, select the kind of action you want to do. If asked, add any extra requested information for the command.
• Click Done .

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How to use voice search in Safari on iPhone and iPad

In Apple's iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 , you can use your voice to search in mobile Safari using Siri. It's available on the best iPhones and best iPads .

Here's more about the feature and how it works. (Hint: You use your voice!)

Using your voice with Safari on iPhone and iPad

Instead of your fingers, you can now do searches on Safari using your voice. To do so:

• Open the Safari app on your device's Home screen.
• Choose the Tab Bar at the bottom of the screen.
• Tap the microphone icon at the far right of the text field.
• Voice your search .

A Safari search acts differently depending on the results. If Siri can identify a specific website based on the search (for example, iMore, it will open it immediately (iMore.com). If, however, your search is more generic ("spinach salad"), you'll see different results as you can see below:

Big changes

Safari has seen significant changes come it's way on iOS/iPad 15. And these changes are one of the seven features you might have missed on the latest update.

Besides voice search, there's Share with You , making it easier to find content sent to you through Messages and new privacy protections. Mobile Safari also includes a bottom tab bar, customizable start page, Tab Groups with syncing, web extensions , and more.

Also explore ...

There are other new features that arrived with iOS/iPad 15, including the latest Focus tool , significant FaceTime changes , new Memoji, and many others.

Master your iPhone in minutes

iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!

Do you have any questions about voice search on Safari on iPhone and iPad? How about a question concerning iOS 15 or iPadOS 15? If so, let us know in the comments below.

Bryan M. Wolfe has written about technology for over a decade on various websites, including TechRadar, AppAdvice, and many more. Before this, he worked in the technology field across different industries, including healthcare and education. He’s currently iMore’s lead on all things Mac and macOS, although he also loves covering iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Bryan enjoys watching his favorite sports teams, traveling, and driving around his teenage daughter to her latest stage show, audition, or school event in his spare time. He also keeps busy walking his black and white cocker spaniel, Izzy, and trying new coffees and liquid grapes.

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How to use voice control in macOS Catalina

Control your Mac with Apple’s new voice-recognition tech

Now that the final version of macOS Catalina has been released, we’ve been busily exploring its many new features. 

One of the key features in Catalina is Voice Control, which is designed to help people who may not be able to use a conventional mouse and keyboard to control their Mac with their voice. 

Voice Control has two main functions, allowing people to dictate text into emails or other documents, and also to issue commands to their Mac, such as “Open Mail” or “Quit Safari ”. 

And, of course, Voice Control can be used by anyone, and we found that it doesn’t take long to get used to opening and closing apps and issuing other commands with our voice. Apple ’s documentation on Voice Control is a bit sparse, though, so we’ve decided to take a closer look and show you how to get started with Voice Control in macOS Catalina.

If you've not done so already, check out how to download and install macOS Catalina . We've also collected all the most common macOS Catalina problems and show you how to fix them .

1. Start up Voice Control

Doh! The new Voice Control options are supposed to be about ‘accessibility’ and, as you’d expect, they’re located inside the Accessibility panel within your Mac’s System Preferences. 

However, Voice Control is actually quite a long way down the list of available options, so you might need to use a mouse to scroll down and find it – which seems a bit daft to us. 

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A simple mouse-click will activate Voice Control, although you will then have to wait for a minute or two for your Mac to download some extra software. When Voice Control is ready you’ll see a little microphone icon appear on the Mac desktop.

2. Voice Commands

You can use Voice Control to dictate text in emails and other documents, and also to issue commands to your Mac. 

Clicking on the ‘Commands’ button with your mouse will show you a list, but if using a mouse is difficult then you can now just say “Click Commands” instead. 

There’s a long list of commands to scroll through, organized into categories such as ‘navigation’ and ‘text editing’, but there’s a Voice Control alternative here as well. 

You can also speak to search for commands – so saying “document” will show you all the voice commands for working with documents. But now, let’s just say “quit System Preferences” to move on and explore a little.

3. Easy as 1,2,3

Voice Control provides a number of options for navigating around your Mac. The first is to assign numbers to commands and objects on your screen.

The Apple Menu holds several key commands for controlling your Mac, so let’s start by saying “Click Apple Menu”. 

Voice Control will now open the Apple Menu, and you’ll see that every command within the menu has been assigned a number, so saying “three” will open the App Store, and saying “eight” will shut the Mac down. 

You’ll find similar numbered commands in the File Menu and other menus, as well as in the menus of individual apps that you work with.

4. Turning speech into text

Voice Control allows you to dictate text into emails, or use word processing apps such as Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages. 

You can also edit text using spoken commands such as “Select All”, or “delete sentence”. If you need a little help, you can also say “Show Commands” at any time to view a list of the Voice Control commands that are available. 

However, many of these dictation features were actually available in previous versions of macOS, so we won’t dwell on them in too much detail here. Let’s move on, and explore the new features that allow you to control your Mac and other types of app.

5. Browse the web with your voice

We can now say “Open Safari” to start browsing the web - and, of course, “Quit Safari” will shut the app down as well. 

You are able to use Voice Control to speak commands on any web page, such as “zoom in” or “zoom out” to get a clear view of the page, or “scroll up” and “scroll down” to navigate through the page. 

And, if you say “Click History Menu”, then you’ll see your recent browsing history, with numbers assigned to each item just like the Apple Menu in our previous step. TechRadar is listed as no.8, so just say “eight” to visit TechRadar.

6. Navigation controls

Having a simple numbered list within a menu is fairly straightforward, but a web page is a more complicated affair with multiple headlines and links that you can use to navigate around the web site. 

Voice Control can extend that number system into your web browser and other apps - all you have to do is say “Show numbers”. 

Each link on the web page now has its own number, so you can just say “fourteen” to follow the link to the latest info on macOS Catalina. You can also speak commands such as “go back” or “go forward” to step forwards and backwards through the web pages you’ve visited.

7. Showing the grid

Each link on the web page now has its own number, so you can just say “fourteen” to follow the link to the latest info on Catalina. You can also speak commands such as “go back” or “go forward” to step forwards and backwards through the web pages you’ve visited.

8. Zooming in

Those top-left window buttons are initially inside Grid 1, so if we now say “one” then Voice Control will zoom in on Grid 1 and sub-divide that grid into a smaller series of numbered boxes. 

The Minimize button that we want is now inside Grid 2, so if we say “Click 2” we’ll activate the Minimize button and hide this web page down inside the Mac’s Dock.

But, if we just say “two” on its own, then Voice Control will zoom in on the grid again to show even more detail, and you can just keep zooming in until you can clearly see all the items or controls that you need in great detail.

9. How to edit photos with your voice

You can use this grid system in other ways as well. We can say “Open Photos” to open the Photos app, and then “scroll up” or “scroll down” to browse through our photo library. 

Saying “Show numbers” will assign a number to each photo so that we can select a photo, and “Click Edit” will switch us into editing mode. 

Saying “Show window grid” will allow us to zoom in on specific parts of a photo, and we can even edit the photo with our voice as well. 

We can use the grid system to zoom in on the Lighting controls, and we can see that the ‘Auto Lighting’ command is now inside Grid 9. 

Saying “Click 9” hits that button and Photos will automatically adjust the lighting levels for this rather gloomy photo of Rafa Nadal.

10. Create custom commands

Not everything on your Mac can be controlled with a simple click or a short, spoken command. 

However, Voice Control also allows you to create your own custom commands to speed up more complex tasks. 

Open the Voice Control preferences panel and say “Click Commands” to view the list of built-in voice commands. 

Click the ‘+’ symbol in the lower-left corner to create your own new commands. This allows you to specify a spoken command that you can use in individual apps, or in the Mac Finder on the desktop.

You can then tell Voice Control to perform a specific action when it hears your command - such as typing ‘techradar.com’ while using Safari, to speed up your browsing.

• Got any macOS Catalina problems? We can help fix them

Cliff Joseph is a former Editor of MacUser magazine, and a freelance technology writer with 30 year’s experience in the industry (and old enough to remember when Apple was close to going bust…).

His first job involved using Macs for magazine sub-editing and typesetting, which led to the realisation that these computer-thingies might actually turn out to be useful after all. After a few years specialising in the Mac side of the market, he went freelance and embraced the wide world of digital technology, including Windows PCs, digital audio and hi-fi, and networking. Somewhere along the line he also developed a bit of a gaming habit and has stubbornly waved the flag for Mac gaming for far too many years.

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VoiceOver Keyboard Shortcuts on a Mac

Screen Reader Keyboard Shortcuts and Gestures > VoiceOver on a Mac

On this page:

Data tables

Additional resources.

VoiceOver for macOS, first introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 in 2005, is a screen reader program that comes on new Mac computers. A variation of VoiceOver is also available on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.

Command + F5 starts the VoiceOver program. VoiceOver uses the Control and Option keys before each command. The combination is referred to as VO in the tables. The VO keys can be locked so that they do not need to be pressed to perform VoiceOver commands by pressing VO + ;.

The following shortcuts will help you navigate common page elements. You can press the Shift key with these commands to move to the previous occurrence.

You can navigate tables in text areas by row and column, and sort by column.

The VoiceOver "rotor" feature helps users to do some frequently performed navigation actions quickly and easily. You can choose which element types are viewable in the rotor by opening the VoiceOver Utility with VO + F8 , then going to Web > Web Rotor.

Open the rotor by pressing VO + U , then use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to choose between element types (availability varies depending on the content of the web page, and whether the element type is enabled for viewing in the rotor), such as Links, Headings, Tables, Frames, Images, Auto Web Spots (automatically generated list of structural and significant items on the page), Web Spots (user-identified page areas), Form Controls, Landmarks, Visited Links, and Non-Visited Links. Once a page element type is selected, use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow to select a particular element and Enter to activate it. Escape exits the rotor.

Within the rotor, you can begin typing to filter the available elements. For example, with the Headers rotor open, pressing "2" will filter to second level headings. Typing "nav" will filter to the headings that contain those characters.

Apple provides VoiceOver user information at www.apple.com/voiceover/info/guide/ .

How to Activate Voice Commands on Your iPhone: A Step-by-Step Guide

Activating voice commands on your iPhone is simple. Go to Settings, tap Accessibility, select Voice Control, and toggle it on. Now, you can control your iPhone using your voice to call friends, send texts, or open apps.

After enabling Voice Control, a blue microphone appears on your screen, indicating your iPhone is listening for commands.

Introduction

Voice commands have revolutionized the way we interact with our technology, particularly our smartphones. For iPhone users, the ability to control your phone with just your voice is not only convenient but also essential for those moments when hands-free is the only option. Imagine driving in your car and needing to send a quick text message, or cooking with messy hands and wanting to change the music without smudging your screen. That’s where iPhone voice commands come in handy.

For people with disabilities or physical limitations, voice commands can be a game-changer, offering a level of independence that might not otherwise be possible. Moreover, in a world where we’re constantly multitasking, being able to control our devices without having to stop what we’re doing is a major plus. So, whether you’re a busy parent, a multi-tasker extraordinaire, or someone who appreciates the convenience technology can bring, learning how to activate and use voice commands on your iPhone is an essential skill.

Step by Step Tutorial: Activating Voice Commands on Your iPhone

Before we start, let’s clarify that following these steps will enable you to use your voice to control your iPhone. You’ll be able to perform a variety of tasks without ever touching your device.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone

Navigate to the home screen and tap the Settings icon.

The Settings app is where you can adjust all your iPhone’s system preferences. Think of it as the control center for your device.

Step 2: Tap on Accessibility

Scroll down and select the Accessibility option.

Accessibility features are designed to make using your iPhone easier for those with various disabilities, but they’re also incredibly useful for everyday tasks.

Step 3: Select Voice Control

Within the Accessibility menu, find and tap on Voice Control.

Voice Control is a feature specifically designed to recognize your spoken commands and translate them into actions on your iPhone.

Step 4: Toggle on Voice Control

Switch the Voice Control toggle to the on position.

Once you enable Voice Control, your iPhone will start listening for your commands. You can speak to your device just like you would to a person, and it will follow your instructions.

Additional Information

Activating voice commands on your iPhone is just the beginning. To truly make the most out of this feature, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the specific commands that your iPhone recognizes. Phrases like “Open Safari” or “Take a selfie” will become second nature as you integrate voice control into your daily routine.

Remember, voice commands are not limited to default Apple apps. You can use them with third-party apps as long as they support Siri shortcuts. Additionally, if you’re concerned about privacy, you can easily toggle Voice Control off when it’s not needed. Lastly, keep in mind that using voice commands can drain your battery faster, so be sure to keep an eye on your iPhone’s battery life.

• Open the Settings app
• Tap on Accessibility
• Select Voice Control
• Toggle on Voice Control

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i customize my own voice commands.

Yes, you can create custom voice commands tailored to your preferences and needs.

Do I need an internet connection to use voice commands?

No, you do not need an internet connection to use Voice Control, as it operates locally on your iPhone.

How can I improve the accuracy of voice recognition?

Speak clearly and try to minimize background noise. You can also train your iPhone to better recognize your voice.

Will Voice Control work with my Bluetooth headset?

Yes, Voice Control is compatible with Bluetooth headsets and microphones.

Can Voice Control open apps that are not on my home screen?

Absolutely, Voice Control can open any app on your iPhone, whether on the home screen or within folders.

Mastering voice commands on your iPhone can significantly enhance your user experience. This hands-free mode of operation not only adds convenience to everyday tasks but also empowers those with physical limitations to use their devices with greater independence.

While there are some drawbacks, such as potential privacy concerns and the occasional misinterpretation, the benefits of activating and using Voice Control far outweigh the cons. With a little practice and customization, you’ll soon be navigating your iPhone like a pro, all with the power of your voice.

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

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A comprehensive list of Siri voice commands you can use on an iPhone

• You can use Siri voice commands to control certain features of your iPhone through the virtual assistant hands-free.
• Siri has an ever-growing list of commands you can give, and some of them can be enormously helpful in day-to-day life.

When voice commands first came out on phones , it was a bit of a joke — they were finicky, hard to control, and would often misunderstand the user and perform the wrong task. 

But voice commands have significantly evolved, and become built-in assistants that we now know by name. Siri , the iPhone assistant, now has an expanded list of varied commands that it can help you with.

How to wake Siri 

• Press and hold the home button : if you have a newer model without a home button, hold the side button down.
• " Hey Siri" : the standard wake-up greeting should wake Siri to listen to your commands regardless of where you are, as long as you have an iPhone model 6S or later. If you have the 6 or earlier, your phone  has to be plugged in and charging for the command to work.

Neither of these commands will work, however, if you don't have them enabled in Settings. To do so, tap "Siri & Search," in the Settings app, and toggle the relevant switch — "Listen for 'Hey Siri'" or "Press Home/Side Button for Siri" — to the "on" position.

If you want to issue commands even when the phone  is locked, make sure "Allow Siri When Locked" is switched on, too.

• On Apple Earpods: Press and hold the center button and speak into the built-in microphone to issue your command or ask your question.
• On Apple Airpods : Double tap on either ear to activate Siri.

Voice commands for Siri to make calls or send messages

Once you've woken Siri and made sure your phone  is listening for your command, there are any number of vocal directives that it will recognize. These include ones for communication, like:

• Call or FaceTime someone on your contacts list, or call an emergency number: "Call Mom" or "Call the Fire Department." You can also add more specific commands on top of these basic ones, like "Call Mom on speaker."
• Reading text messages or emails: "Read new messages" or "check my email."
• Sending text messages: "Tell [contact name] that I'll be home at seven."
• Sending emails: "Send email to [contact name] about [subject] and say [message]."
• Checking voicemail: "Do I have any voicemail?" or "Play new voicemail from William."

Asking Siri questions

• Weather: "What's the weather today?" or the more specific "Do I need an umbrella?"
• Math: "What's 25 times 36?" or any number of other math problems, including tip calculations.
• Mathematical conversions: "How many cups are in a quart?" or "How many feet in a meter?"
• Time zone conversions: "What time is it in Chicago?"
• Definitions, synonyms, antonyms, or etymologies of words: "What's the definition of arduous?" or "What's the etymology of arduous?"
• The dates of holidays: "When is Easter this year?"
• Site searches: "What's trending on Twitter?" or "What's Brendon Urie saying?" or "Search Twitter for…"
• Any question Siri can't answer : if Siri can't answer a question itself, it will send it to Google, and present you with the top result from there. You can also start a question with "Search Google for…" if you want.

Voice commands for Siri to search your phone

You can even use Siri to search your phone for things using keywords. So if you can't find something in your phone, Siri might be of help. Searches Siri can perform include:

• Notes: "Find my note about…"
• Emails: "Find the email about…"
• Your photos: "Find photos of [person]" will work if you have photos associated with a certain contact, or if you have gone through in your Photos app and labeled a person using the facial recognition software. "Find photos from [place]" will also work if you had location services enabled when you took the photos, and "Find photos from [date or time period]" should always work.

Voice commands for Siri to set schedules

You can also use Siri as a personal assistant, and have it help you set schedules and reminders. You can:

• Schedule a meeting in your calendar: "Schedule a meeting with [name] tomorrow at [location] at [time]."
• Set reminders: "Remind me to pick up my dry cleaning tomorrow at 2pm." You can also set these reminders for places instead of times, if you have location services turned on. For example, you might say, "Remind me to start the wash when I get home," and when your phone sees that you've arrived at your home address, it will remind you.
• Set alarms: "Set an alarm for 7 a.m."
• Turn off or delete alarms, reminders, or events: "Cancel my 3 o'clock appointment" or "Turn off all alarms" or "Delete my 6:55 alarm."
• Countdowns: "How many days until Christmas?" or "How many days until April 25?"
• Make reservations: "Make a reservation for two tonight at Boccone South at 7:30 p.m.," or even "Find a table for eight in Philadelphia tonight."
• Find out more about your area: you can ask questions as simple as "Where am I?" or "What bridge is this?" As long as your location is updating actively, Siri should be able to answer you.
• Check your calendar events: "What's on my schedule for today?"
• Check on a flight's status: "Check flight status of [airline and flight number]"

Voice commands for Siri to help with directions

You can also ask navigation questions, which Siri will be able to answer using the Apple Maps app — questions like:

• "What's traffic like on the way home?"
• "Where is the nearest pizza place?"
• "Where is The Pizza Grill?"
• "Find walking directions to The Pizza Grill."
• "Find driving directions to the Four Seasons Hotel."
• "How do I get to work by transit?"
• If you are already using maps to get you to a destination, you can ask "What's my ETA?"
• "How much does gas cost right now?"

Voice commands for Siri to control Apple Music

• Basic commands: "Play," "Pause," "Stop," "Go back," and "Next song" all work.
• Play specific music: "Play [artist] or [song name] or [album]."
• Play music radio: Saying "Play some music" will create a custom Apple Music radio station based on your tastes.
• Like a song: "Like this song" will have the app "like" the song currently playing.
• Shuffle: "Shuffle my [playlist name] playlist" should usually work — although if you have emojis in the names of any of your playlists, it's less reliable."
• Queue songs: "After this, play Feels So Nice by The Wrecks" queues that as the next song.
• Play popular music: "Play the top songs from 2010" — Siri will play you some of the most popular music from any era of your choosing.
• Play related music: "Play more like this" — Siri will play more songs that sound like the one you're currently listening to in genre and tone — this ability is more accurate the more Apple Music knows about your tastes.
• Purchase music: "Buy this song" will take you to a purchase confirmation for the song.
• Identify songs: "What song is this?" works if you're playing a song through Apple Music, or if you hear a song while you're out somewhere and you have Shazam installed.

Siri can also usually accomplish basic tasks in popular third-party apps. To check which apps on your phone you can control using Siri, try issuing a basic command, like "Pay Jordan 10 dollars on Venmo" — or see if the app is on this ongoing list of Siri-compatible apps.

There are also a few random commands you can give Siri just for fun, like "Roll two dice for me", "Tell me a joke," and "What planes are flying above me right now?" The Apple team is constantly updating Siri's software, and the program is also constantly learning from you, so try issuing different commands and see what happens!

Related coverage from  Tech Reference :

How to disable siri on your apple watch in 3 simple steps, so you can stop activating it accidentally, how to access and use siri on an apple watch in 2 different ways, how to use siri on your mac computer to search the web, play music, and more, how to change siri's voice or language on your mac computer in 4 steps, how to enable and use siri on any ipad model to ask questions, give commands, and more.

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Voice Control for ChatGPT

.css-1bsg0uq{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-4xl);} Voice Control for .css-1qejk8x{background-image:linear-gradient(to right, #1abc9c, #1a82bc);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;} ChatGPT

Enhance Your ChatGPT Experience with Voice Input and Read Aloud Capabilities

Windows and macOS

The #1 Voice Control extension on the Chrome Web Store trusted by over 500,000 users

Let's talk!

This browser extension revolutionizes the way you interact with ChatGPT, allowing you to effortlessly engage in voice conversations with this intelligent conversational partner. With our browser extension, you can now easily talk to ChatGPT in a seamless and dynamic way. Voice Control for ChatGPT provides a convenient and accessible tool to enhance your experience with advanced AI. Take your AI interactions to a whole new level today!

Voice input

Record your voice and submit your spoken questions to ChatGPT

Have ChatGPT's responses read aloud to you for a more immersive experience

Multilingual Support

Enjoy conversations with ChatGPT in multiple languages for a truly global experience.

Effortless Conversations and Language Learning

Voice Control for ChatGPT provides a faster and more efficient way to obtain information, as speaking is typically quicker than typing. This makes it an excellent choice for those who want to save time. Additionally, it is an accessible tool for people with disabilities or impairments that make typing difficult. The extension is also beneficial for language learning, providing an opportunity to practice speaking skills and improve pronunciation. Overall, Voice Control for ChatGPT is a valuable tool for exploring the capabilities of advanced AI and enhancing your experience with ChatGPT.

Introducing Mia - Your Personal Voice Assistant

Building on the innovative features of Voice Control, Mia AI evolves the experience into a personal voice assistant integrated with ChatGPT. Engage in fluid, hands-free interactions and enjoy the empathetic, personalized feedback that makes every conversation natural. With Mia AI, set your browser's startup page to welcome a ready-to-assist companion, enhancing your digital life with just your voice.

Install now

Don't miss out on this opportunity to make your ChatGPT conversations more exciting and interactive. Install the Voice Control for ChatGPT browser extension then go to ChatGPT and start talking!

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Subscribe to our newsletter for tips, exciting benefits, and product updates from the team behind Voice Control!

Other projects from the team

The ultimate language training app for the browser that uses AI technology to help you improve your oral language skills.

Simple, Secure Web Dictation. VoiceTyper brings the convenience of voice-to-text technology directly to your browser, allowing you to input text on any website using just your voice.

Voice Control for Gemini

Expand the voice features of Google Gemini with read aloud and keyboard shortcuts for the built-in voice recognition.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference to kick off June 10 at 10 a.m. PDT with Keynote address

The Keynote will be available to stream on  apple.com , the Apple Developer app, the Apple TV app, and the Apple YouTube channel. On-demand playback will be available after the conclusion of the stream.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Problems with voice control on macOS Monterey

I am having two main issues with Voice Control:

- Voice Control lags over time. There is a noticeable… painful… delay… from when I say a command to when it is actually implemented on the screen. Examples of this include dictation cut that, paste that, switching desktops, and scrolling up/down on browsers.

 The only solution is to constantly enable/disable voice control. Obviously, this is not an ideal situation if I am not able to manipulate a mouse at the time.

-Not being able to scroll up/down on browsers. Frequently, I am not able to use voice control to say scroll up/down on a browser. It does not matter which browser I use-Safari, Chrome, Fire Fox etc. I will give the command of scroll down, it will give me feedback that though command was accepted, and nothing will happen on the browser.

I have no solution to fix this. Restarting the browser, deleting the browser cache, disable/re-enable voice control, restarting the computer, disabling Extensions and plug-ins,etc. have no effect. It will randomly begin to work/stop working. All browsers are up to date.

I have experienced these issues on two different machines. The first being a base model iMac Pro. Initially I use the built-in microphone on the iMac. As I came to rely on the voice control. I noticed the above issues. Then I switched to a Bluetooth headset in hopes that would resolve some of the issues. It did not… and I tried several different types of headsets to see if that would fix the problem with no luck.

I noticed in the Activity Monitor that thecom.apple.speech recognitioncore.speechrecognition was taking up anywhere between 35 and 60% CPU on my iMac pro. My thought was I was asking my Computer to do too much.

Last month I updated to a Mac Studio M1 Max with 64 GB of RAM. My Monitor is a 49 inch widescreen.

Unfortunately, I immediately ran into the same problems. The activity monitor shows the speech recognition core down to 32 oxide52% CPU… but with the same problems as listed above.

I have Multiple Sclerosis. My physical abilities range from using the computer normally without physical limitations, to basically a quadriplegic relying on voice commands only.

I am an Instructional Technology Facilitator at a school district. I often have Chrome/Safari Open with several tabs, Mail, Text Edit, Microsoft Teams, Messages, Zoom, System Preferences, and Activity Monitor open at the same time. I have tried limiting the number of applications open at one time… however this does not change/Improve any of the above issues.

I am at my wits end… and would appreciate any advice/suggestions. Many thanks in advance!

Posted on Jul 5, 2022 8:02 AM

Posted on Jul 5, 2022 9:27 AM

i have Parkinson's Disease and initially used Voice Control on my iMac running Catalina seeing the same issues and CPU that you describe. I would add that when using Safari I frequently lose the item numbers on the menu pull-downs. They often come back on their own but it's not predictable. Quitting Safari and restarting it, or cycling VC brings the numbers back. I hoped that upgrading to Monterey would help but nothing changed. I'm convinced that Apple works hard to to provide these features, but falls short on ensuring that they survive real world use.

I have to time my computer use to avoid when my PD symptoms interfere with computer use. I realize that nothing I've said will help you, but your'e not out there alone.

Similar questions

• Voice control Will not work in pages I have two Mac minis(1) late 2018 core i7 with 32 gig RAM and (2) 2014 with core i7 with 16 Gig RAM and a late 2014 MacBook Pro retina and voice control in Pages will not work. I can click out of Pages and voice control works fine. All three machines is running IOS 10.15.2 and the Pages version in 8.2.1. I tried reinstalling the IOS and removing and reinstalling Pages from the App Store and nothing works. This is very frustrating and I am sure it is a bug in Pages that is causing the Voice Control to ignore any command or dictation while Pages has the focus. It have used System Diagnostics to check all machines and there is nothing wrong with them. This is the 3rd post I have put up about this problem. I thought I had it solved after formatting the Hard drive and installing the IOS, Voice control worked for a very short time and then quit. I know when it stops working because the Voice Control commands window with close without being told to do so. When that happens Voice Control no longer works in Pages. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Thanks 998 12
• HELP! Can't turn off Speech Recognition, Processor Never Stops I foolishly thought it would be a great idea to turn of the "Dictation" feature on my Mac to get an audio file I have on my phone transcribed...and now I can't disable it no matter what I do. I have repeatedly tried to turn off the "apple speech recognition" in my Activities Monitor - it pops right back up (including when I use Force Quit), I have turned off the dictation in the systems Preferences (under keyboard), I have turned off Ask Siri, I have tried clicking "Sleep" on the little microphone pop-up on my workspace... and when I talk it still registers. I have restarted my laptop twice, and have even turned it off and walked away for an hour and when I return - Boom, it's all on. Please, I have tried everything and the processor continues to churn away - like torture as I tried to work. 9724 1
• Voice control stopped working After latest Catalina update I have come to rely on Catalina's voice control feature which helps immensely working with a disability. However, after updating to 10.15.4 on my iMac Pro, The voice control stopped working. At first I thought it was just lagging… It would do that now and then after the screen saver would kick in. I worked through all the typical troubleshooting…To no avail. Then I noticed when I opened up The Activity Monitor… The speech recognition Had 151.6% of my CPU? I force quit the speech recognition… Tried re-launching it with the same results… Even withMultiple restarts, safe mode restarts, etc. Anyone have any thoughts that might help? I am really struggling here. Many thanks! 290 9

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Jul 5, 2022 9:27 AM in response to Jacen Lefholtz

Jul 5, 2022 9:32 AM in response to xnav

Thank you… I appreciate that!

How to Get Started with a Smart Home

A re you ready to step into the future and transform your house into a smart home? With the rapid advancement of technology, it’s now easier than ever to automate and control various aspects of your home with just a few taps on your smartphone. But where do you begin? In this blog post, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know to get started with a smart home. Whether you’re a tech-savvy enthusiast or someone who is new to the world of smart home technology, this post is packed with valuable information and tips to help you make the best decisions for your home.

Smart home technology is revolutionizing the way we live by integrating our everyday devices and appliances with advanced technology. With the power of automation and connectivity, a smart home allows you to control and monitor various aspects of your house remotely, making your life more convenient and efficient. We’ve already talked about the benefits and advantages of smart home technolog y. How it can make your home more comfortable and convenient, increase security, add flexibility and customization, and increase energy efficiency. So we’re going to skip why you should have a smart home and get right into how to get started with a smart home.

Getting Started with a Smart Home

Choosing a smart hub.

One of the first steps in getting started with a smart home is choosing a smart hub. A smart hub is a central control unit that connects and manages all your smart devices. It acts as the brain of your smart home, allowing you to control and automate various functions. When selecting a smart hub, consider compatibility with other devices, ease of use, and the range of features it offers. Each hub has its own unique features and capabilities, so it’s important to research and choose the one that best suits your needs.

The most popular smart home hubs include Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod. These three smart home hubs are not the only smart home hubs available, but they are the most common. This means that they will be compatible with the widest range of smart home devices.

Selecting Smart Devices

Once you have chosen a smart hub, the next step is to select the smart devices you want to integrate into your home. Smart devices can include things like smart lights, thermostats, door locks, security cameras, and more. When selecting smart devices, consider both compatibility with your chosen smart hub and the specific functionalities you desire. Look for devices that offer seamless integration with your smart hub and provide the features you need. Devices should have a label on them that states that they “work with” your hub of choice.

It’s also a good idea to start with one or two devices and gradually expand your smart home network as you become more comfortable with the technology. Generally, smart light bulbs are a good choice for beginning a smart home. Smart light bulbs are comparatively cheap, and easily installed into existing light fixtures. You simply screw out the old bulb and add the new bulb in. Be sure to follow the manufacture’s instructions for connecting to the new bulb to their app.

Since most devices are made by different manufacture’s than your smart home hub, once you add the light to the manufacture’s app, you will need to add that app into your smart home hub. This is a pretty straightforward process from the app that manages your hub ( Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Apple Home ). You simply find the spot to “add devices” and select the manufacture of your new device. The good news is, you only need to add the manufacturer once. If you decide to purchase more of that brand’s devices in the future they should be automatically added to your smart home.

Customize and Automate

Smart home apps should have a way in them to automate and schedule different events that you would like to have happen. Perhaps you would like your lights to turn on at dusk and off at 10pm. Now that you have your new smart light bulbs and they are in your smart home app, you can do this! Be sure to check with your smart home app for instructions, but there is a world of customizations and automations available to you now.

What is a smart home and how does it work?

A smart home is a residence that uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to connect and control various devices and systems within the house. These devices can include smart thermostats, lighting, appliances, security cameras, and more. The central hub, usually a smart speaker or a smart display, acts as the control center for all the connected devices. Smart homes work by using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to connect these devices to the internet, allowing you to remotely control and automate them using a smartphone app or voice commands. This means you can turn off lights, adjust the temperature, lock doors, and even monitor your home’s security from anywhere, giving you convenience, comfort, and peace of mind.

What devices do I need to get started with a smart home?

To get started with a smart home, you’ll need a few key devices. The first essential device is a smart hub or a smart assistant, such as Amazon Echo or Google Home. These devices act as the central control hub for your smart home and allow you to communicate with all your other smart devices using voice commands. Additionally, you’ll need smart devices like smart bulbs, smart plugs, and smart thermostats. These devices connect to your smart hub or assistant and can be controlled remotely via a smartphone app or through voice commands. We recommend that you start with smart light bulbs as they are relatively cheap and easy to switch out with existing light bulbs.

How do I choose the right smart home hub?

To choose the right smart home hub, it’s important to consider compatibility, features, and ease of use. First, make sure the hub is compatible with the devices you already have or plan to purchase. Next, consider the features offered by the hub. Some hubs come with built-in voice assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant, while others offer advanced automation capabilities. Think about your specific needs and choose a hub that offers the features you desire. Finally, consider the ease of use. Mainstream smart home apps like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Apple Home are going to be easier to use than something like HomeAssistant.

Can I control my smart home using voice commands?

Being able to control your smart home with your voice is going to depend on the smart home hub that you choose. Many smart home devices, such as smart speakers and smart assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, are designed to respond to voice commands. These voice-activated devices act as the central hub of your smart home, allowing you to control various compatible devices simply by speaking out your commands. You can turn on/off lights, adjust thermostats, play music, or even lock/unlock doors, all by using your voice. Just make sure that the smart devices you choose are compatible with the voice assistant you prefer and follow the setup instructions provided by the manufacturer to get started.

Are there any security concerns with having a smart home?

Yes, there can be security concerns with having a smart home, but there are steps you can take to minimize the risks. One of the main concerns is the potential for hackers to gain unauthorized access to your smart devices, such as cameras or thermostats. To mitigate this risk, it’s important to choose devices from reputable manufacturers that prioritize security and regularly release firmware updates. Additionally, you should create strong, unique passwords for each of your smart devices and enable two-factor authentication whenever possible. It’s also a good idea to secure your home network by using a strong password for your Wi-Fi and regularly updating your router’s firmware.

How difficult is it to set up a smart home?

Setting up a smart home may seem daunting at first, but it’s actually quite simple and straightforward. Most smart home devices are designed to be user-friendly and can be easily set up by anyone, regardless of their technical skills. Smart home devices usually come with step-by-step instructions and can be connected to your hub or voice assistant through a mobile app. With a little patience and following the instructions, you’ll have your smart home up and running in no time!

Can I integrate my existing nonsmart devices into a smart home?

Yes, you can integrate some of your existing nonsmart devices into a smart home. The easiest way is to use smart plugs or smart switches, which can be plugged into or connected to your existing devices, allowing you to control them remotely through a smart home hub or app. More advanced integration might involve opening up the device and adding sensors or switches to it – something for the more technically advanced to tackle.

What is the most common challenge getting started with a smart home?

The most common challenge with smart home technology is compatibility. Different devices and platforms may not always work well together, resulting in a fragmented experience. It’s important to research and choose devices that are compatible with each other or use a central hub to connect them.

We hope that you found this information helpful and that it has inspired you to embark on your own smart home journey. As technology continues to evolve, creating a smart home has become more accessible and user-friendly than ever before. From controlling your lights and appliances with a simple voice command to enhancing your home security with smart locks and cameras, the possibilities are endless. So, whether you’re a tech enthusiast or simply looking to streamline your daily routines, we encourage you to explore the world of smart home technology. Happy smart home-ing!

The post How to Get Started with a Smart Home appeared first on AllTheThings .

Apple's AI Efforts:

Apple Plans AI-Based Siri Overhaul to Control Individual App Functions

• The feature will be at the heart of renewed Apple push into AI
• Idea is to operate features within individual apps using voice

Apple Inc. is planning to overhaul its Siri virtual assistant with more advanced artificial intelligence, a move that will let users control individual app functions with their voice, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The new system will allow Siri to take command of all the features within apps for the first time, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative isn’t public. That change required a revamp of Siri’s underlying software using large language models — a core technology behind generative AI — and will be one of the highlights of Apple’s renewed push into AI, they said.

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Orientation commands : Hear summaries of open apps and windows; find out where the VoiceOver cursor, mouse pointer, and keyboard focus are located; read the contents of a window; and more.

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When Voice Control is enabled on your Mac, you can use your voice, instead of your keyboard, to perform some VoiceOver commands. See Use VoiceOver with Voice Control .

Download this guide in Braille Ready Format:   BRF (English)

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26231 (Canary Channel)

• Amanda Langowski
• Brandon LeBlanc

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26231 to the Canary Channel.

Developers, please note that for a short period of time, we will not be releasing an SDK for builds we flight to the Canary Channel.

What’s new with Build 26231

Narrator users can now use voice access to dictate text hands-free.

Narrator users can start using voice access in Windows 11 to dictate text with voice and hear what is dictated. In addition, you can also use voice access to give Narrator commands. For example, “Turn on Narrator,” “speak faster,” “read selection,” “read next line,” etc.

To know the entire list of Narrator commands supported with voice access, click help icon (?) on the voice access bar, select “View all commands” and choose “Narrator commands.”

What will work:

• Start and set up voice access which includes downloading a speech model.
• Read a list of voice access commands and Narrator commands from voice access help menu.
• Changing voice access microphone state.
• Dictating text with voice and hearing back what was dictated.
• If you don’t use headphones for listening to the screen reader, the audio output from the screen reader may get picked up by voice access microphone, leading to unwanted behavior.

[We are beginning to roll this out to Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Auto Restart for Voice Access & New Voice Access Command for Windows Search

We are introducing auto restart for voice access in Windows 11 . This feature ensures that voice access will automatically restart if it encounters any issues so that individuals with limited mobility can get back to using voice access as quickly as possible. Customers will no longer need to rely on alternative assistive technologies or assistance from others to reactivate voice access. Should voice access automatically restart due to a crash, we are making it easier to report those crashes once voice access restarts so the team can investigate and work on fixes.

We are introducing a new command for searching directly with Windows search. Users can now say the command Search “Entity”; Search Windows for “Entity”; or Search for “Entity” to search for their desired application or file in Windows (“Entity” is replaced with whatever application or file you want to search.)

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice access.

Changes and Improvements

[windows share].

• We are beginning to roll out the ability to copy files from the Windows share window. Just click the new copy button.

• The change that updates the visuals for the “Rename your PC” and “Change date and time” dialogs to match the Windows 11 visuals that began rolling out with Build 26217 should now be available to everyone in the Canary Channel.

[File Explorer]

• As some Insiders have noticed, we’ve done some work to improve how the new icon labels in the context menu display for non-English languages.

[Task Manager]

• Updated the units (from MHz to MT/s) for DDR speed.
• Fixed an issue where the Safely Remove Hardware option for ejecting USB devices wouldn’t work if Task Manager was open.
• Did some work to ensure Task Manager releases process handles quickly when terminating processes.
• Made some more improvements to help with Task Manager reliability.
• We have improved the performance when changing the sort order.
• Made multiple improvements to overall accessibility of Task Manager, including improving keyboard focus, tab navigation, text scaling, names of items read out by screen readers, and more.
• We made it a little easier to resize Task Manager when trying to resize by grabbing the top of the window.

Known issues

• [IMPORTANT NOTE] We are investigating reports that some Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels are stuck on Build 26040 or Build 23620. The investigation is ongoing, however if you are impacted by this and really want to get onto the latest build in the Canary or Dev Channel today – you can download the latest ISO here and do a clean install and opt your device back into flighting in the Canary or Dev Channels.

Snipping Tool Update

We are rolling out an update for Snipping Tool (version 11.2405.24.0 and newer) to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels that introduces automatic save for screen recordings . This feature works the same as automatic save for screenshots. Your recordings will automatically be saved to Screen Recordings folder (inside your Videos folder). You can choose to turn this off in Snipping Tool settings.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F)  under Apps > Snipping Tool .

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel

• The builds we release to the Canary Channel should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready .
• Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology , starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.
• Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub.
• To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required . As a reminder – Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements.
• The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.
• Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel.
• Copilot in Windows* is being rolled out gradually to Windows Insiders across our global markets. Customers in the European Economic Area will be able to download the Copilot in Windows experience as an app from the Microsoft Store (coming soon).

Thanks, Amanda & Brandon