Change Switch Access settings

You can customize your settings to make Switch Access suit your needs and preferences.

Important: Some of these steps require you to touch the screen.

Contents

Open Switch Access settings screen

To change Switch Access settings:

1. Open your device's Settings app .
2. Open Accessibility Switch Access Settings.

Assign switches for scanning

When you set up Switch Access for Android, you can choose which switches or keyboard keys perform each action. You can change your switch assignments at any time by following these steps:

1. On the Switch Access settings screen, select Assign switches for scanning.
2. Select the action that you'd like to assign. The dialog displays the switches already assigned to the action.
3. To add or remove a switch, press it.

The following sections include examples of customized switch assignments.

Assign multiple switches to an action

You can press multiple keys or switches to assign all of them to an action. This option can be helpful if you use a standard keyboard as your switch and you want the entire keyboard to act as a single switch.

Assign a Previous switch

A Previous key or switch reverses your last scanning choice. It only affects the highlight of items on the screen. If you use step scanning, Previous moves your highlighting in the opposite direction from Next. If you use group selection, Previous will undo your last highlighted choice.

Tip: Previous does not undo actions, such as opening an app.

Assign a Reverse auto-scan switch

If you use auto-scan and you want to add a second switch to change the direction of the scan, set up Reverse auto-scan.

Assign switches for actions on the highlighted item

Actions on the highlighted item include Scroll forward, Scroll backward, and Touch & hold.

Tip: If you use group selection with more than 2 switches, these actions don't work consistently because multiple items can be highlighted at once.

Menu customization

Enable menu customization

When you toggle Enable Menu Customization to "on," it allows you to change what appears in the Switch Access global menu. If the toggle is off, your changes don't update in the global menu. You can learn more about global menu customization in Tips for Switch Access.

Revert to default menu

If Enable Menu Customization is toggled to "on," then the items in the Switch Access global menu might've been moved or hidden from their default positions. To undo these changes and restore the global menu to its default state, select Revert to Default Menu.

Assign switches to global actions

If you use multiple switches, you can assign switches to specific actions. For example, you might want to assign a certain key to Quick Settings.

1. On the Switch Access settings screen, tap Assign switches to global actions.
2. Assign switches to any of the following actions: Back, Home, Notifications, Quick Settings, and Overview.

Customize scanning

Your scanning method is the way Switch Access moves the highlight across your screen. You can choose from the following options.

Auto-scan

Auto-scan automatically moves the highlight through the items on the screen until you make a selection. To start the scan, press the switch twice to select the highlighted item.

Auto-scan settings include the following:

Auto-scan time

Choose how many seconds the highlight stays on each item.

Delay on first item

Choose an additional time delay to wait on the first item before you move the highlight. This delay is added to your auto-scan time. A longer delay can help you get oriented on a new screen before the scan starts.

Important: The changes made in this setting will change the same setting under "Point scan."

Number of scans

Choose how many times auto-scan repeats.

Important: The changes made to this setting will change the same setting under “Point scan.”

For more instructions, learn how to set up Switch Access for Android.

Scanning method

Choose from several ways to scan your screen:

Linear scanning

This is the default scan method. The highlight moves through items on the screen one at time.

Tip: If you choose this option, row-column scanning is used for keyboards.

Row-column

The highlight moves through the screen one row at a time, until you select a row. Then the highlight moves through each row item at a time. This method is often faster than linear scanning.

Group selection

This option is only available if Auto-scan is off.

Tip: On some devices this is called "Option scanning."

For more instructions, learn how to set up Switch Access for Android.

Point scan

Point scan lets you choose a specific place on the screen to tap, swipe, or zoom, if applicable. Lines move across your screen to let you specify a horizontal and vertical location. Point scan settings include the following:

Line speed

This setting applies to point scan only, and determines the speed at which the scanning lines move. Enter a speed in density-independent pixels (dp) per millisecond.

Delay on first item

Choose how many seconds to wait on the first item before starting scanning. A longer delay can help you get oriented on a new screen before scanning starts.

Important: The changes made to this setting will change the same setting under “Auto-scan.”

Number of scans

Choose how many times the point scan repeats.

Important: The changes made to this setting will change the same setting under “Auto-scan.”

For information about point scanning, check Tips for using Switch Access.

Automatically start scanning

Turn on this option to start the scan without pressing a switch. By default, you need to press a switch to start scanning.

Auto-select

Turn on this option to automatically tap on the highlighted item that's selected. When this option is set to "Off" and multiple actions can be performed on the selected item, there's a menu with available actions. For more instructions, check Tips for using Switch Access.

Display & sound

Scanning highlight style

Choose the color and thickness of the highlighter on your screen. If you use group selection, you can choose each group’s highlight.

Speech sound & vibration

To hear spoken feedback for items with available actions and descriptive text, turn on Spoken feedback. This setting might be useful if you're unable to see the screen. In this section, you can also adjust other sound and vibration settings. For more instructions, learn how to set up Switch Access for Android.

Switch accommodation

Ignore repeated presses (formerly "Debounce time")

Choose how many seconds for Switch Access to wait after you press a switch before it accepts more input. A higher time delay can be useful if you find that you unintentionally press switches more than once.

Release to perform action

To have Switch Access actions happen when you release a switch instead of when you press a switch, toggle Release to perform action on. This setting is useful if releasing a switch is easier for you than pressing a switch.

Get more help

For more help with Switch Access, contact the Google Disability Support team.