Assistive Access - Call and Text Restrictions

Let me just start by saying that I absolutely love this mode, but in it's current form I find it nearly unusable. Not sure if the following are bugs or intended features.

  • Going into assistive mode means you can't make calls by default. The only way to output calls is by adding each and every single contact manually by clicking 'Make Calls To Selected Contacts' and adding them. The option 'Receiving calls from' allows you to select 'All Contacts'. The 'Make Calls To' sections would benefit significantly from the addition of an 'All Contacts' option. Worth mentioning that I did receive a call from an unknown number, despite it not being added to my contacts (this is the behaviour I would expect, but it's relevant for the following point)

  • Similarly to the above, but much more egregious, you have to add each contact individually to the 'Send Messages To' or otherwise there will be no space to begin typing. BUT, messages from non-contacts are not received whatsoever. I can confirm not receiving any google verification codes and a text from a co-worker whose phone number I had not yet saved. I find it paramount to have the option to receive any text that reaches the phone. Lastly, the text window could just behave and look like the 'regular text' window. It feels a bit cumbersome in it's current iteration.

A couple other minor things I noticed:

  • The Ring/Silent switch seems to not function. Typing makes the sound effect despite the switch being off.
  • WhatsApp will play a notification sound, but there is no visual queue to inform that it came from WhatsApp resulting in having to manually look through for the notification's origin.

Looking forward to continue watching this feature evolve !

Replies

Hi 2khz, thank you for your feedback!

Would you mind reporting the following using Feedback Assistant? This way we'll be able to track these items and provide individual responses on the resolution of these.

Thanks so much for trying out Assistive Access and for providing your perspective on it! Really appreciate it.