How to Activate Google Now Voice From Any Screen on Android

<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ever since I upgraded my Nexus 4 to KitKat, I’ve been a fan of the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.launcher&hl=en" sl-processed="1" style="color: #0d72c7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Google Now Launcher">Google Now Launcher</a>. It was clean, it was fast and it signified what was to come next – Lollipop. I was floored by the big beautiful icons. And when I finally got touch-less Google Search using <i>OK Google</i>, things got so much better.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I could make my way to the home screen and just say “<i>Ok Google, what’s the cricket match score”</i> and it would tell me. I love not doing things.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l0qAcnuIK3k/VSR_51J8SGI/AAAAAAAAAXo/2hUQLzrX0Pc/s1600/Screen-Shot-2015-03-27-at-2.58.46-am_shrink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l0qAcnuIK3k/VSR_51J8SGI/AAAAAAAAAXo/2hUQLzrX0Pc/s1600/Screen-Shot-2015-03-27-at-2.58.46-am_shrink.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I’ve switched between many launchers since. I did my stint with Aviate, then I had my honeymoon period with Nokia’s Z Launcher. Recently, I installed Everything Me and it’s doing me good. But that’s a topic for some other day.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I want to take the voice search aspect out of the home screen and spread it across the OS. No matter which screen you’re on or the launcher you’re using, saying <i>OK Google</i> should bring up Google search. I mean it’s 2015, we deserve that much, right?</span></div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">OK Google Everywhere</span></h2><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My quest began with wanting OK Google voice detection on a third party launcher. But when I enabled the option, I realized it was available OS wide. And that’s awesome. When I want to look something up when I’m in Gmail app or Twitter, I can just say <i>OK Google</i>. And that kind of power is amazing.</span></div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First, Make Sure You Have the Google Search App</span></h2><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">You’ll need </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox&hl=en" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Download Google Search"><span style="color: #cc0000;">the Google Search app</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> along with Google Now functionality for this to work. But if your phone is only a year or two old, you already have it. You might have only just realized it, but you do.</span></span></div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How to Activate Google Voice Search OS-Wide</span></h2><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I’ve said, you’ll need Google Now enabled for this to work. You can get to Google Now using the default way for your phone. On stock Android devices, you swipe up from the home button.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">then, tap the hamburger menu button and select <i>Settings</i>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tHxKR_Q86fg/VSSA7orCy3I/AAAAAAAAAX4/B_vrkK62m08/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-17-52fdfd-39_result_shrink_shrink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tHxKR_Q86fg/VSSA7orCy3I/AAAAAAAAAX4/B_vrkK62m08/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-17-52fdfd-39_result_shrink_shrink.png" width="225" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-naeifVunCoQ/VSSBjmw6SeI/AAAAAAAAAYA/xTWDD5mW4U8/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-14-00-43_result_shrink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-naeifVunCoQ/VSSBjmw6SeI/AAAAAAAAAYA/xTWDD5mW4U8/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-14-00-43_result_shrink.png" width="225" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">now, select <i>Voice</i> -> <i>OK Google detection</i> -> <i>From any screen</i>.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the next screen you’ll get a splash page that tells you what you’re about to enable. This feature will let you invoke the <i>OK Google</i> command from any screen. When the phone is charging, you can do this even when the phone is locked.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5gCS61mnqY/VSSCQ8T04CI/AAAAAAAAAYM/a2HFDmgUaA4/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-14-00-53_result_shrink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5gCS61mnqY/VSSCQ8T04CI/AAAAAAAAAYM/a2HFDmgUaA4/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-14-00-53_result_shrink.png" width="225" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SAYOTQls3Z8/VSSA7SQSv7I/AAAAAAAAAXw/xE7Oa9i8_yE/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-14-00-48_result_shrink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SAYOTQls3Z8/VSSA7SQSv7I/AAAAAAAAAXw/xE7Oa9i8_yE/s1600/Screenshot_2015-03-26-14-00-48_result_shrink.png" width="225" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tap <i>Get Started</i>.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23.4375px; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, you need to teach Google to only respond to <i>you</i>. So say <i>OK Google</i> three times. This makes sure that your friends can’t mess around with your phone.</span></div>

How to Activate Google Now Voice From Any Screen on Android

Ever since I upgraded my Nexus 4 to KitKat, I’ve been a fan of the  Google Now Launcher . It was clean, it was fast and it signified what wa...

Read more »