Action Blocks

Google LLC

About this app

Action Blocks makes routine actions easier with customizable buttons on your Android home screen.

Powered by the Google Assistant, you can easily set up Action Blocks for a loved one. Action Blocks can be configured to do anything the Assistant can do, in just one tap: call a friend, watch your favorite show, control the lights, and more.

Action Blocks can also be configured to speak phrases. This can be especially useful to people with speech and language disorders to quickly communicate during urgent situations.

Built with the growing number of people with age-related conditions and cognitive differences in mind, Action Blocks can also be used for people with learning differences, or even for adults who want a very simple way to access routine actions on their phones. Set it up for your family, friends, or for yourself.Action Blocks now features tens of thousands of picture communication symbols (PCS® by Tobii Dynavox), providing a seamless visual experience for users of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices and special education software.

Action Blocks may also be useful for anyone who could benefit from an easier way to perform routine actions on their device, including individuals with dementia, aphasia, speech disorder, autism, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, Down syndrome, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, dexterity impairments, or other conditions. People who use adaptive switches, Switch Access, or Voice Access may also benefit.

Action Blocks includes an Accessibility Service, and uses that capability to enable you to connect a switch. If you don't want to connect a switch, it works fine without enabling the service.

Learn more about Action Blocks in the Help Center:
https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/9711267

Ratings and reviews

Really useful for combining different smart home controls on your homescreen. However, not perfect, a few changes i would like to see: - having the option to execute a command in the background (having google assistant popup is not needed when the block is just a light switch) - having more control over the look of the blocks, such as transparent backgrounds (for a more consistent look on the home screen) Or being able to use an iconpack to choose icons from.

Giving this app a second try. Working pretty well so far, as I like being able to customize smart home controls and set up one of my home screens as a remote for lights, music, TV, etc. But the fact that the Assistant pops up (glitchy) every time is annoying, sometimes taking up my entire screen. Isn't one of the purposes of this app to simplify these actions? If I wanted to interact with assistant that much, I would be using an actual app like Google Home or... wait for it... Google Assistant.

The idea is excellent! We have been waiting for this app for so long... but the app needs a bit of maturity, the buttons take ages to execute the action, I don't see the point to open the assistant after button is pressed, we should have the option to stay on home screen. Sometime app doesn't find the assistant or return an error but the action might be executed anyway. A new version would be appreciated ;)

What's new

• Bug fixes