Google's Voice Search now lets 3rd party apps use offline voice recognition, privacy buffs rejoice
With the latest update to the Now and Voice Search apps, Google has quietly opened the floodgates for 3rd party apps to use its offline voice recognition tools. This is huge, as it will allow developers to feature voice commands and natural language recognition in their apps without the need for an Internet connection, hence keep your privacy intact.
The possibilities here are endless and only limited by the devs imagination. One of the first apps to take advantage is utter!, which is not new per se, but now features the offline voice recognition, and via a download smaller than 2MB lets you command the phone with your voice without the typical need for data connection. The offline function will only work on Jelly Bean devices and above, of course.
It runs in the background and is made to be very light and available anywhere you are in the interface by shaking the phone, waving or simply pressing a button. The real value in this undertaking is that none of your personal information is uploaded to Google's servers, which is a huge relief for people who regularly use Google Voice Search or Apple's Siri, for instance. In fact, the utter! promo video takes a jab at Siri indeed, so check it our below.
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Things that are NOT allowed: