How to Make an iPhone a Hands-Free Phone

With Apple’s iOS 13 software came the ability to use Voice Control—an accessibility feature that allows you to do just about anything on your device by speaking commands into your iPhone or iPad. This feature is a huge step in the right direction for people with limited dexterity or mobility. If you’re on the hunt for a hands-free phone, the iPhone with Voice Control features is worth checking out. Follow along with Trademore to learn how to make your phone hands-free.

Voice control may sound a lot like Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, but this feature is very different. From adjusting volume levels with your voice, opening apps, editing text and even rebooting your phone, Voice control is more like a substitute for touching the iPhone’s screen. There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to mastering certain commands, but you have to enable it first. Here’s how:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Voice Control.
4. Toggle on Voice Control.
5. Once Voice Control has been enabled, a blue microphone icon should appear next to the clock in the upper-left corner of the display. This icon means Voice Control is on and always listening for a command.

From here, you can begin using Voice Control; however, you may not know what commands are available to you:

1. Tap Customize Commands; there are many commands and they’re broken up into categories. If you tap one, you’ll see all of the different accepted phrases that will trigger a specific action on your phone.
2. You also have the ability to add commands by tapping the Create New Commands button. In order to create a command Voice Control will recognize, you must specify the nature of the action, as well as the application where it is relevant before you write it out.

If you want Voice Control to listen only while you’re looking at your iPhone, you can turn on the Attention Aware setting once you open the Voice Control screen. When your phone notices you’re not looking at it, Voice Control will automatically sleep. Still, however, you can use voice control without looking at your phone by saying “Wake Up”.

Although the Voice Control technology is extremely comprehensive and helpful, it will likely take a bit of practice to get the most out of it. Here are some common phrases:

• “Open App Switcher”
• “Open Notification Center”
• “Open Siri”
• “Go Home”
• “Go Back”
• “Tap (item name)”
• “Search web for (phrase)”
• “Scroll up/down”
• “Zoom in/out”
• “Two finger double tap”
• “Type (phrase)”
• “Turn down/up volume”
• “Mute sound”
• “Lock screen”
• “Open Apple Pay”

These are just a few of the many phrases you can use with iPhone’s Voice Control to make your phone hands-free. For tips, tricks and more how-to guides like this, be sure to check out the Trademore blog.

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