How to use Google Switch Access to control your Android phone with switches

Jun 14, 2023

Can't use your phone's touchscreen? Control it using switches with Google's Switch Access app.

Google offers several accessibility features on Android to help users easily perform day-to-day tasks. Those with visual or auditory impairments can use the tools in the Android Accessibility Suite to navigate the UI and perform various actions without outside assistance. Among these is a handy switch-based input system called Switch Access, which lets you use your Android device with one or more switches instead of the touchscreen.

Google first launched Switch Access in 2017, and it has since picked up new functionality to help you do even more. In addition to new capabilities, Google has also split Switch Access away from the Android Accessibility Suite, and it's now available as a standalone app on the Play Store. If you face issues controlling your Android phone with its touchscreen and have yet to try out Google Switch Access, here's everything you need to get started.

Switch Access is the perfect solution for those who find it difficult to directly interact with an Android device's touchscreen. You can use it to set up different hardware switches that connect to your device via USB or Bluetooth. These can then help you scan and select items on the screen, scroll through pages, type, and almost everything that would otherwise require you to interact with the touchscreen. You can even rely on the front-facing camera to recognize pre-configured facial expressions as switches.

Since the app is no longer part of the Android Accessibility Suite, you first need to install the app. You can do it via the link below. After that, follow the steps to get set up.

For this tutorial, we'll use the Camera Switch option on our Google Pixel 7 Pro.

You should now be able to control your phone with facial expressions without ever needing to interact with the touch screen. If you want to make any further changes, you can jump into the Settings > Accessibility > Switch Access. The app lets you further choose menu customizations, enable or disable auto-scan, enable speech, sound, and vibration, and more.

Google's Switch Access app is a handy tool to help users control their Android devices without interacting with the touchscreen. It's useful for those with disabilities, but it can also come in handy if your phone's touchscreen breaks. Try it out by following the steps above.

I chanced upon the XDA Forums while looking for a way to update the original Motorola Defy to Android 4.0 ICS. Now I help people find answers to similar questions while covering the latest developments in the tech world. You can reach out to me at [email protected] or on Twitter @pranobmehrotra.