Voice Commands
Voice commands let you move through a session and grade cards without touching your phone — with it in your pocket, on a bike mount, or across the kitchen.
Turn them on
Voice commands are switched on per session:
- On the Review tab, long press a session and choose Edit Session.
- Turn on Use Voice Commands and tap Save.
The first time a session listens, the app asks for Microphone and Speech Recognition access. Both are needed.
Pair voice commands with Autoplay Sides for a session that runs itself and only needs you to say how well you knew each card. See Review Sessions.
The commands
| Say | To |
|---|---|
| next | Move to the next side or card. |
| previous | Go back to the previous side or card. |
| repeat | Replay the current audio. |
| question | Go to the question side. |
| answer | Go to the answer side. |
| again | Grade as Again. |
| hard | Grade as Hard. |
| good | Grade as Good. |
| easy | Grade as Easy. |
A grade only counts on a card's last side; on an earlier side it simply moves on.
While a session is listening
A listening indicator appears at the top of the player, with a level meter that moves as it hears you. When a command is recognised, the matching control lights up.
Tap the indicator to open Voice Controls, which shows the recogniser's status and the phrases currently in use. Its status tells you what is happening — Listening, Paused while audio plays, Starting, Stopped, or Unavailable if permission is missing.
Recognition pauses while a card's audio is playing, so the app does not mistake a card saying good for you saying it. Speak in the gaps: after a side finishes, or during the autoplay countdown. After a command is accepted there is a moment's cooldown before the next one.
Voice commands keep working with the screen locked.
Settings
Settings > Voice Commands holds the options every session shares. You can also reach it from Voice Command Settings in any session that uses voice commands.
Language
The language your commands are recognised in. Until you choose one, it follows your device's dictation language.
The list marks each language On-device or Online. On-device languages work without a connection and keep audio on your device; online languages send audio to Apple for recognition. If you study in one language but give commands in another, set this to the language you will speak commands in.
Test
The Test section runs a live recogniser while the screen is open. Say a command and watch it register. It is the quickest way to find out whether a phrase is recognised reliably in your accent and surroundings.
Commands
Every phrase can be changed, up to 24 characters each. Choose phrases that:
- your accent lands reliably,
- are unlikely to come up in your own answers — if you study English vocabulary that includes next or easy, try go on or too easy, and
- sound different from each other.
Multi-word phrases such as next card work too, and are harder to trigger by accident than a single short word.
Tips for reliable recognition
- Wear headphones. A headset microphone hears you much better than a phone in a pocket, and headphones stop card audio leaking into the microphone.
- On AirPods, use Adaptive Audio rather than Noise Cancellation. On back-to-back rides with everything else the same, Adaptive recognised noticeably more of what we said and needed far fewer repeats. Press and hold either stem to change noise control, or set it from Control Centre.
- Speak between clips, not over them.
- Wind and traffic make commands harder to hear. Try again somewhere quieter, or test longer phrases.
- Pick an on-device language if you review without signal.
- If recognition stops responding, pause and resume playback, or close and restart the session.
Related
- During a Review — the other ways to control the player without looking.
- Troubleshooting — when commands are not recognised.