Especially for people with mobility impairments, the developers introduced the Switch Access application – controlling the phone using a special. switches. They allow you to select objects on the screen, scroll through lists, type text, and much more.
Let's consider the main features of the program. Let's go to Settings> Advanced settings> Special. Features> Control elements (setting box)> Switch Access.
Select the gear at the bottom of the screen to access the settings.
Setup wizard
Open the setup wizard in the application settings menu and select how the switch will be connected to the phone: via usb or bluetooth.
The system will search for available devices. Next, you need to pair the two devices (when connected via bluetooth).
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Assign switches
In this section of settings, we will assign toggles for scanning and general actions on the phone.
Switches for scanning. By scanning, you can highlight and select the desired objects on the screen.
- Moving and choosing. Configure 3 actions by toggling: select, next, back. The switch is not connected to my phone, so I cannot assign the number of switches. You, for example, assign 2 switches to the “back” action, and 3 switches to the “next” action.
- Actions with selected objects on the screen: press and hold, scroll forward, scroll back. You also assign actions using switches.
Switches for common actions. These are back actions, Home screen, opening notifications, opening quick settings (quick launch) screen, overview.
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Customize Scan
This block provides options for configuring scanning.
- Auto scan – on / off.
- Scan Method:
- line by line – move between objects in turn. This scanning method is used for the keyboard;
- by rows and columns – move from one row to another. By selecting a line, you can navigate through the objects in it;
- group selection – all groups will be highlighted in different colors. Click the radio button corresponding to the color of the group, then select the next group, and so on. Continue until you find the item you want.
- Spot Scan – determines the position of an object on the screen using horizontal and vertical scanning lines. At the same time, you adjust the speed of moving along the lines (cm / sec), the delay on the first object (sec, so as not to slip through it), the number of scans (how many times to repeat the scan).
- Auto start scan – start scanning automatically or not.
- Auto Select – automatically selects the highlighted object (application icon) of your choice. If this option is disabled, a menu with available actions will appear.
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Screen and sound
Selection style:
- Colour,
- line thickness of the object selection.
Speech, beeps and vibration:
- reading text on the screen;
- to voice descriptions of objects, as well as actions with these objects;
- detail – select the information that will be announced:
- sound the pressed keys on the on-screen keyboard;
- voice prompts – they are announced during navigation after a short pause;
- to voice information about the position of an object in lists and grids;
- voice the type of element (menu, icon, setting, etc.);
- vocalize the selected object or groups;
- change tone when dubbing – the tone decreases when dubbing keyboard input;
- the maximum time for dubbing each description, at the end of the time the phrases will be cut off;
- when selecting several objects, sound the first and the last, the number of objects or sound all the selected objects;
- the order of description of objects: state, name, type;
- read out element identifiers, i.e. buttons without labels.
- speech synthesis settings. Details in this article;
- finish dubbing before moving;
- vibration feedback: on / off. Those. accompany all actions with vibration, for example, when changing a selected object or screen content;
- sound signal – accompany changes with a sound signal;
- sound signal volume;
- mute applications while dubbing to hear the voice assistant.
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Using switches
Set to ignore repeated clicks to avoid mistakes. Set, for example, 0.5-1 sec.
And additionally configure to perform the action when the switch is released or not.
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Other settings
Go back to the Special section. possibilities, block of settings “Control elements”. The following add-ons are available here. options:
- Pressing after setting the pointer. If enabled, set the delay before pressing, the default is 600ms (almost half a second).
- OFF ends the call.
- Auto-rotate screen: off / off. Those. change the position of the phone in space – the image is reversed.
- Press and Hold Lag: Small, Medium, Large.
Results. We have reviewed the basic functions for interacting with the phone using switches for people with mobility impairments.