Google releases Assistant-powered Action Blocks and new

accessibility features in Maps, Live Transcribe, and Sound Amplifier

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and Google is using the opportunity to announce
several new accessibility-minded features. “Action Blocks” are finally ready for a public release,
and new accessibility features are coming to Live Transcribe, Sound Amplifier, and Google
Maps.

Action Blocks

Action Blocks is a feature that Google introduced last year. In a nutshell, it’s an app that allows
you to create buttons on the home screen to perform Google Assistant commands. The idea is
these buttons are much easier for people with some form of cognitive disability use, rather than
interacting with their voice or text.

While Action Blocks were designed as an accessibility tool, the functionality can be useful to
anyone. You can create Google Assistant macros to automate things in your home and simply
tap a widget instead of reciting a command. Blocks can be resized on the home screen and
customized with images. Tapping a block will open Google Assistant and perform the command
for you.
Live Transcribe

Next up is Live Transcribe, a tool that was introduced at Google I/O 2019. Live Transcribe
automatically transcribes speech to text in multiple languages and it’s super handy. Now,
Google is making it possible to add specific words that Google might not recognize, like names
and things not found in the dictionary. Users can also search saved transcription by keywords.

The most interesting new feature for Live Transcribe, however, is the ability to be notified when
someone nearby says your name. Users can set their name as a keyword and their phone will
vibrate when it’s heard. This could be particularly useful for people who are deaf or hearing
impaired. Live Transcribe now also includes Albanian, Burmese, Estonian, Macedonian,
Mongolian, Punjabi, and Uzbek.