Google’s accessibility enhancing Switch Access app is the latest breakout ready for smoother updates

Motor-impaired Android users set to benefit One of the bigger debates with smartphone obsessives has been about size — should they be big, like Google's Pixel 7 Pro, or small,

like the Asus Zenfone 9? Left out of the discourse are people living with physical or mental impairments, but when it comes to solutions for interacting with a 21st-century

necessity, the answer: to each their own. Google is now ensuring it can actually adapt Android to these users' accessibility needs. ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY The company has

taken an important element of its Android Accessibility Suite called Switch Access and has made it an app which can be updated through the Play Store (as opposed to at a slower

rate through system updates). It lets users operate their Android device outside of the touchscreen using a switch device — this could be a keyboard of some sort or, in some

cases, the phone's selfie camera that recognizes facial gestures as commands. The app allows users to configure their switch (via USB, Bluetooth, or using the device's front-facing

camera), determine how the app scans the screen for actionable items, how users narrow down and select a single item — either filing through single items and rows or by

progressively smaller colored groups. Shortcuts can be created for routine sequences while system-side functionality is accessed through a hub menu. 9to5Google notes that settings

for Switch Access can be reached in two ways from the same accessibility section in the system settings app: from the downloaded apps subsection as well as the interaction controls

subsection. Switch Access is a free download from the Play Store.