How can I get the stock voice dialer on my phone working again (without giving up privacy)?
There used to be a dedicated voice dialer app. I would tell it to dial numbers, or I could tell it to dail contacts, and it worked, but that app seems to be gone. Can this be fixed with stock android, or does it require a third-party app?
If you're interested, here's how I got to this point, and how to recreate this problem:
A few months ago, the voice dialer functionality on my Nexus 5X changed (maybe because of an upgrade, or maybe I accidentally changed some settings). Now, when I hold the action button on either a wired headset or a bluetooth headset, the phone launches the "Google App" instead of the stock voice dialer app and subsequent voice commands are interpreted as a Google web search. For example, saying "Call Jane Doe on mobile" doesn't actually call anybody, rather the app hears me perfectly but launches a search for the string "Call Jane Doe on mobile" instead of actually calling her. I've found a solution to this awkward web search behavior: enable "OK Google Hotword Detection" within the Google App's settings (bad design, really, because the microphone action button already works to initiates voice commands so it's not necessary for the app to listen for the 'OK Google' hotword to then start listening, but let's put that aside for now). So now it's working a bit better, and when I say "Call Jane Doe on mobile", it actually acknowledges that I have issued some kind of phone dial command. And here's where the big problem is: it refuses to place the call. It gives a message over audio saying that the Google needs permission to my contacts, but I've verified that the app already does have the contacts permission enabled. So what's stopping it? Well it turns out, it's not asking for local access to your contacts, rather it's asking for you to send Google your calendar, apps, music, battery life, and sensor readings -- uhhhh no thanks! I'm not "in" with allowing Google to generically "store and use" sensitive information in exchange for looking up a contact and placing a phone call (this is still a phone, right?). To summarize: although the app already has access to both my contacts and to my microphone, it refuses to dial a contact unless I give Google blanket permission to store and use my sensitive data .
So let's give up on that because that's a deal breaker for me. Let's circumvent the contact lookup and go old-school by directly dialing phone numbers! "Call one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten", and... it refuses again. It wants asks for permission to access your contacts again. Everything is the same. Why does it need to access my contact list if I'm telling it the exact number to dial? Something is very wrong with my phones voice dialing. I want the old app back and I never want to use the google app for voice dialing, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I was left with one option: factory reset! No, i didn't actually factory reset my phone to bring voice dialing back, but I did add a generic android user profile to my phone, and to my dismay, the new generic android user profile works the same as my real profile does now, and not how it used to work a few months ago. Refuses to voice-dial a phone number unless I give away my privacy. Is anyone else having this problem?
makogaleos said:
How can I get the stock voice dialer on my phone working again (without giving up privacy)?
There used to be a dedicated voice dialer app. I would tell it to dial numbers, or I could tell it to dail contacts, and it worked, but that app seems to be gone. Can this be fixed with stock android, or does it require a third-party app?
If you're interested, here's how I got to this point, and how to recreate this problem:
A few months ago, the voice dialer functionality on my Nexus 5X changed (maybe because of an upgrade, or maybe I accidentally changed some settings). Now, when I hold the action button on either a wired headset or a bluetooth headset, the phone launches the "Google App" instead of the stock voice dialer app and subsequent voice commands are interpreted as a Google web search. For example, saying "Call Jane Doe on mobile" doesn't actually call anybody, rather the app hears me perfectly but launches a search for the string "Call Jane Doe on mobile" instead of actually calling her. I've found a solution to this awkward web search behavior: enable "OK Google Hotword Detection" within the Google App's settings (bad design, really, because the microphone action button already works to initiates voice commands so it's not necessary for the app to listen for the 'OK Google' hotword to then start listening, but let's put that aside for now). So now it's working a bit better, and when I say "Call Jane Doe on mobile", it actually acknowledges that I have issued some kind of phone dial command. And here's where the big problem is: it refuses to place the call. It gives a message over audio saying that the Google needs permission to my contacts, but I've verified that the app already does have the contacts permission enabled. So what's stopping it? Well it turns out, it's not asking for local access to your contacts, rather it's asking for you to send Google your calendar, apps, music, battery life, and sensor readings -- uhhhh no thanks! I'm not "in" with allowing Google to generically "store and use" sensitive information in exchange for looking up a contact and placing a phone call (this is still a phone, right?). To summarize: although the app already has access to both my contacts and to my microphone, it refuses to dial a contact unless I give Google blanket permission to store and use my sensitive data .
So let's give up on that because that's a deal breaker for me. Let's circumvent the contact lookup and go old-school by directly dialing phone numbers! "Call one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten", and... it refuses again. It wants asks for permission to access your contacts again. Everything is the same. Why does it need to access my contact list if I'm telling it the exact number to dial? Something is very wrong with my phones voice dialing. I want the old app back and I never want to use the google app for voice dialing, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I was left with one option: factory reset! No, i didn't actually factory reset my phone to bring voice dialing back, but I did add a generic android user profile to my phone, and to my dismay, the new generic android user profile works the same as my real profile does now, and not how it used to work a few months ago. Refuses to voice-dial a phone number unless I give away my privacy. Is anyone else having this problem?
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What app are you giving the contacts permission? You should be giving it to the Google App (aka Voice Search). At minimum, you need to allow that app Contacts, Microphone, and Phone permissions.
Full Android permissions have already been granted to the Google App, and the setting "OK Google hotword detection" is also enabled. But it still asks me for even more intrusive uses of my data, to just dial a phone number. Screenshots attached.
Why would it even need access to contacts to straight up dial a number that I dictate?
@makogaleos have you tried clearing cache and data for that app? Mine doesn't need contact permissions to dial by number.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
PiousInquisitor said:
@makogaleos have you tried clearing cache and data for that app? Mine doesn't need contact permissions to dial by number.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I cleared cache, and that didn't change anything. Can't clear data because that option seems to be unavailable for the Google app.
Perhaps it's not asking you because you've already given permission?
makogaleos said:
I cleared cache, and that didn't change anything. Can't clear data because that option seems to be unavailable for the Google app.
Perhaps it's not asking you because you've already given permission?
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Click to collapse
I have given it permission before but to try and trouble shoot it I turned the "Information from your devices" thing off and cleared the data Google stored. My contacts are stored on my Google account anyway. Are yours stored locally on your phone?
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
PiousInquisitor said:
I have given it permission before but to try and trouble shoot it I turned the "Information from your devices" thing off and cleared the data Google stored. My contacts are stored on my Google account anyway. Are yours stored locally on your phone?
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Let's ignore contacts for the moment, and just consider phone numbers. Before, I could say "Dial 1-800-555-5555" and a voice dialer app would execute that command. That isn't happening anymore. It's taking me to the Google app, and it's asking for android permissions and then some really intrusive general permissions. How can I get the original voice dialer app back so that it can just work as normal?
makogaleos said:
Let's ignore contacts for the moment, and just consider phone numbers. Before, I could say "Dial 1-800-555-5555" and a voice dialer app would execute that command. That isn't happening anymore. It's taking me to the Google app, and it's asking for android permissions and then some really intrusive general permissions. How can I get the original voice dialer app back so that it can just work as normal?
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Click to collapse
So it didn't open the Google App before? What app did it open?
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
PiousInquisitor said:
So it didn't open the Google App before? What app did it open?
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
It opened this app "Voice Dialer":
makogaleos said:
It opened this app "Voice Dialer":
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I can't say I've ever seen that app on my 5X or any other phone I've had...
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
PiousInquisitor said:
I can't say I've ever seen that app on my 5X or any other phone I've had...
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I don't think it had a launcher shortcut. But it's what popped up when pressing the action button on a headset.
makogaleos said:
I don't think it had a launcher shortcut. But it's what popped up when pressing the action button on a headset.
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Click to collapse
When you setup your phone did it restore any apps? I just went through all of the system apps with a file explorer and there is no voice dial app.
PiousInquisitor said:
When you setup your phone did it restore any apps? I just went through all of the system apps with a file explorer and there is no voice dial app.
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Click to collapse
I just found several threads online discussing how the stock voice dialer app has been deprecated, and so for the Nexus 5X, the microphone action button takes you to the Google App / Google Now. That means my Nexus 5X probably never had the Voice Dialer app (by the way, the Voice Dialer app does have its own launcher shortcut in some earlier versions of Android).
As I said in my original post, the voice dial functionality within the Google app is disabled unless users agree to Google's use of sensitive data, so that's where I am now: the most advanced phone I can buy won't execute a simple voice dial -- a standard feature in flip phones from 2004.
Related
How in the world do you turn off Google voicemail mail and go back to the stock app so I can listen to my phone messages the old fashion way?
" I would prefer to be hated for who I am,than loved for who I am not "
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
In the Google Voice app, Log out of it, it will then give you a number to call to disable it fully. After that, uninstall the google voice app. Also, go to Settings-Call-Voicemail, and make sure "My Carrier" is selected, the google voice app should do this when you log out, but check to make sure
That app needs lots of work, it took over my phone! I was glad to go back to stock. I went online to my google account to unstall it.
I had some fun playing with S Voice when I first got my phone, but it quickly got frustrating. I use my Bluetooth earpiece a lot (DH calls it my Borg Implant...) and I'm used to using voice control on my Vibrant. I'm finding that when I try to do the same on the S3, that S Voice gets it wrong way more often than right. I'll tell it to call my Mom by name, it'll call my Mother In Law. Or random numbers. I had to change Mom's name in my contact list to "Mom." I also can't get it to work with playing music in Google Music.
I'd prefer Google search with my bluetooth but I don't know how to make that happen. I've tried going in to the apps and disabling S Voice, and that did indeed not cause it to come up when I touch the button on my bluetooth, but nothing happened.
Is there a way to cause Google Search to be the default again when I want to search for something, play a song, compose a text, or call someone?
Thanks for any advice.
I would love to know this as well. If there's a way to override S Voice with Google voice search, I will do it in a heartbeat. Anyone?
Sent from my T-Mobile Galaxy S3 via XDA Mobile App
Good Luck.
puertoricanshan said:
I would love to know this as well. If there's a way to override S Voice with Google voice search, I will do it in a heartbeat. Anyone?
Sent from my T-Mobile Galaxy S3 via XDA Mobile App
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Click to collapse
Get titanium backup and "freeze" S-voice is a solution I would suggest. As well as clearing the data and cache of S-voice in app manager under system settings because it should clear the S-voice being default. Please thank me if I have helped you. Take care
Try this. Double tap Home to open Svoice. Press menu, then settings and disable everything!
Next go to Settings - Language and Input
Press Voice Recognizer and you should be able to choose Google.
Then press Voice Search to configure.
If you can't choose Google, try switching to the Swype keyboard, then try again.
I hope this helps!
I got this partially, enough to be getting on with. I went into my app manager and disabled S Voice. Now when I touch my bluetooth, it gives me Google's voice dialer.
I wouldn't mind S Voice so much if it actually worked.
iSchadenfreude said:
Get titanium backup and "freeze" S-voice is a solution I would suggest. As well as clearing the data and cache of S-voice in app manager under system settings because it should clear the S-voice being default. Please thank me if I have helped you. Take care
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion! What I ended up doing (because I'm not rooted) is I disabled S-Voice, then installed an app called Home2 Shortcut (can't post link to Play Store - sorry!). That allowed me to choose the app I want to launch on double-tap of the home button. Works flawlessly!!
Hey does s voice work on 4g/3g? because i tried it and it said network error and then i try with wifi and it works fine!
I just got myself a Jawbone ERA, works pretty well, but i;d love it to open google now or voice search via the button, or with some command. Is there a way to enable this on the XS? thanks1
There is an app called Bluetooth Launch that may help you out
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4 Beta
I have that installed but it seems to do nothing when set to voice search activity
Sent from my Xperia S using xda premium
I would just set it to the Google search activity not voice search also double check that you have Bluetooth bypass checked in your settings under security. Google search"now" should give you the same commands and more than voice search I believe
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Did you get this working? I've
1.) Installed the "bluetooth launch" app
2.) Disabled the voice dialer
3.) set bluetooth launch to: a) com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox.voicesearchactivity b) com.goog...googlesearch c) com.go...searchactivity
And in each case, I get:
a screen asking if I want to use bluetooth launch or google search (I know that I can permanently set this to search, but won't do so until everything else works consistently)
If I select "google search" I get a screen that says "Say call follow by a name or a number" Although this works fairly well, its not what I'm looking for. I want to be able to activate google now to navigate, play songs, and yes, to dial people.
The "bluetooth launch" app seems like the right app for the job, but "google now" shows up nowhere (that I can find) on it's list of possible actions. We really shouldn't need apps at all. Google now should be on by default, or at least (easily) setup to interact with bluetooth.
I never got anywhere with it in afraid, Google now didn't even seem to listen over bluetooth which is weird
Sent from my Xperia S using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
No way to let this function work.
say call follow by name or a number
convergence138 said:
Did you get this working? I've
1.) Installed the "bluetooth launch" app
2.) Disabled the voice dialer
3.) set bluetooth launch to: a) com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox.voicesearchactivity b) com.goog...googlesearch c) com.go...searchactivity
And in each case, I get:
a screen asking if I want to use bluetooth launch or google search (I know that I can permanently set this to search, but won't do so until everything else works consistently)
If I select "google search" I get a screen that says "Say call follow by a name or a number" Although this works fairly well, its not what I'm looking for. I want to be able to activate google now to navigate, play songs, and yes, to dial people.
The "bluetooth launch" app seems like the right app for the job, but "google now" shows up nowhere (that I can find) on it's list of possible actions. We really shouldn't need apps at all. Google now should be on by default, or at least (easily) setup to interact with bluetooth.
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Click to collapse
I have the same problem...."say call follow by name or a number"... any luck? Would love to switch it to google now prompt.
deusbigalow said:
I have the same problem...."say call follow by name or a number"... any luck? Would love to switch it to google now prompt.
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Click to collapse
Use Titanium Backup to freeze Voice Dialer (com.android.voicedialer) and set Bluetooth Launcher to launch com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox.voivesearchactivity. Set Google Now to use Bluetooth Input. This works for me, my Bluetooth headset launches straight into Google Now Voice Search.
Ok so I'm trying to get my pixel 2 xl to unlock straight to the assistant with the "ok google" voice command, bypassing the lockscreen but it keeps asking for my passcode, even though I have set the "Unlock with Voice Match" switch on in the assistant settings. I also retrained my voice and still no luck.
Any suggestions? it seems to be a bug or something.
Grafdude said:
Ok so I'm trying to get my pixel 2 xl to unlock straight to the assistant with the "ok google" voice command, bypassing the lockscreen but it keeps asking for my passcode, even though I have set the "Unlock with Voice Match" switch on in the assistant settings. I also retrained my voice and still no luck.
Any suggestions? it seems to be a bug or something.
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Click to collapse
Don't know if this will help or not. Have you tried clearing the Google app data and cache. Reboot, then try again. Just spitballing.
I'm now having the same problem. Seems like it happened right after I signed up for the Google play services beta though. Did you sign up for that as well?
Badger50 said:
Don't know if this will help or not. Have you tried clearing the Google app data and cache. Reboot, then try again. Just spitballing.
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I tried that, had to retrained the voice command and all that, still asking for passcode.
mptrh336 said:
I'm now having the same problem. Seems like it happened right after I signed up for the Google play services beta though. Did you sign up for that as well?
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Click to collapse
No I did not sign up for that.
Just turn ooff and back on the ok google from any screen and voice unlock on the assistant settings, then retrain a couple of times, try using various tones when doing so
Mine has been doing that as well. Never had this issue before
I've always had this issue. Works after delete voice training, then redo it. But, it reverts back to asking for passcode.
dinkoh said:
I've always had this issue. Works after delete voice training, then redo it. But, it reverts back to asking for passcode.
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Ditto. It drives me crazy! It never seems to recognise my voice. On the plus side, I got the Google Home Mini free, and despite being an Alexa girl I decided to keep it to play around (and compare with). So if I'm trying to set phone reminders and the like while I'm my living room, it gets picked up by the Mini and a stubborn phone doesn't matter.
...though it's still a pain anywhere else of course. Especially if you're out and about and just want to talk to the phone instead of typing. Frankly it always seems to pick the most inconvenient times possible to decide it doesn't know who I am. Grrrr....
Hi all!
I got my RM8P yesterday. I really like the device, but definitely see the software lackings that everyone has mentioned.
My current bugs:
1. I copied my data from my Pixel 6 Pro to the RMP8. It also copied the lock screen text I had "My Google Pixel 6 Pro, *****es". So when I go into personalized setting to try to change this text, it won't let me. When I click the option, it just goes back to the Settings menu.
2. More importantly, my voice dictation/voice to text functionality is now broken. It was fine until this afternoon when I updated a bunch of apps in Play Store. Now, no voice dictation is working for any app. I've tried every possible app and rebooting. The OK Google still works so it's "hearing" my voice in general.
Any feedback?
Thanks!
EDIT: I figured out that enabling Google Assistant (Hey Google) broke the voice dictation. Strange that it breaks it.
darbylonia said:
Hi all!
I got my RM8P yesterday. I really like the device, but definitely see the software lackings that everyone has mentioned.
My current bugs:
1. I copied my data from my Pixel 6 Pro to the RMP8. It also copied the lock screen text I had "My Google Pixel 6 Pro, *****es". So when I go into personalized setting to try to change this text, it won't let me. When I click the option, it just goes back to the Settings menu.
2. More importantly, my voice dictation/voice to text functionality is now broken. It was fine until this afternoon when I updated a bunch of apps in Play Store. Now, no voice dictation is working for any app. I've tried every possible app and rebooting. The OK Google still works so it's "hearing" my voice in general.
Any feedback?
Thanks!
EDIT: I figured out that enabling Google Assistant (Hey Google) broke the voice dictation. Strange that it breaks it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was about to tell you that disabling hey google fixed the dictation thing. The first os layer is funny af, it does that and doesn't carry the swipe between apps gesture. And a bunch of things, I worked the hey google with the swipe from a corner gesture tbh I don't use Google assistant that much but still it was a thing
Alextakatu said:
I was about to tell you that disabling hey google fixed the dictation thing. The first os layer is funny af, it does that and doesn't carry the swipe between apps gesture. And a bunch of things, I worked the hey google with the swipe from a corner gesture tbh I don't use Google assistant that much but still it was a thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use hey Google assistant too often, but I do use it occasionally. It's just strange that I have to choose between enabling that functionality and enabling voice dictation. I guess I'll choose the voice dictation and give up Google assistant or enable it when I feel I need to use it at times. I'm not sure it's a Red Magic thing as it may be a broader Android thing.
darbylonia said:
I don't use hey Google assistant too often, but I do use it occasionally. It's just strange that I have to choose between enabling that functionality and enabling voice dictation. I guess I'll choose the voice dictation and give up Google assistant or enable it when I feel I need to use it at times. I'm not sure it's a Red Magic thing as it may be a broader Android thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure it's only a redmagic thing. Their support has been largely useless when I attempted to alert them to this issue.
darbylonia said:
Hi all!
I got my RM8P yesterday. I really like the device, but definitely see the software lackings that everyone has mentioned.
My current bugs:
1. I copied my data from my Pixel 6 Pro to the RMP8. It also copied the lock screen text I had "My Google Pixel 6 Pro, *****es". So when I go into personalized setting to try to change this text, it won't let me. When I click the option, it just goes back to the Settings menu.
2. More importantly, my voice dictation/voice to text functionality is now broken. It was fine until this afternoon when I updated a bunch of apps in Play Store. Now, no voice dictation is working for any app. I've tried every possible app and rebooting. The OK Google still works so it's "hearing" my voice in general.
Any feedback?
Thanks!
EDIT: I figured out that enabling Google Assistant (Hey Google) broke the voice dictation. Strange that it breaks it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, I have Alexa installed as the main assistant, if you select it as the default transcription program, it already works for you to transcribe messages. The failure after several tests I have realized that when you select Google as an assistant it stops working, the mobile does not listen to you. I have already opened several incidents on the Magic network page but they only tell me that I formatted the mobile.