Voice assistant and wake word
Control your devices by voice: choose a wake word, turn the assistant on, and say commands like "turn off all the lights downstairs".
How it works
The assistant has three steps:
- Wake word: a small model on the device listens for your chosen phrase, such as "hey jarvis". Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere while it waits.
- Speech to text: after the wake word, Android's speech recogniser turns your command into text. HomeDeck asks for the phone's offline recogniser first.
- Understanding: fixed rules on the device work out what you asked for and which device you meant. There is no cloud service and no account.
Good to know
If the device has no offline speech model installed, Android's recogniser may fall back to its online service for step 2. Install your language's offline speech pack in Android's settings to keep everything on the device. The typed command box never uses the network.
Turn on the assistant
Open Settings › Assistant › Voice assistant.
Under Mic permission, tap Request and allow microphone access. It then reads Granted — audio never leaves this device.
Choose a Wake word engine (see below). The default, Open engine (sherpa-onnx), needs no account.
Type your Wake word. The default is
jarvis.Turn on Voice assistant at the top.
Back in Settings, the Voice assistant row now says it is listening for your wake word. Keep HomeDeck open on screen for the wake word to work.
Choose your wake word
HomeDeck offers two wake-word engines.
Open engine (sherpa-onnx): type any phrase
Fully offline, with no account or key. The open engine uses a speech model bundled with the app that can listen for any phrase you type, so there is no recording or training step: type the phrase in Wake word and it is ready.
Tips for a phrase that works well:
- Use two or three syllables or more:
hey jarvisworks better thanjo. - Pick words that do not come up in everyday conversation or on the TV.
- Use plain English letters. Numbers and symbols are ignored.
Porcupine: a trained custom model
Porcupine, from Picovoice, gives better detection quality. It needs a free AccessKey from console.picovoice.ai, and its free tier is for personal use only, with custom models that expire after 30 days.
Create a free account on the Picovoice Console and copy your AccessKey.
To use your own phrase, train a custom wake word in the Picovoice Console for Android, and download the
.ppnmodel file to the device.In HomeDeck, select Porcupine (needs free Picovoice key).
Paste the key into Picovoice AccessKey.
In Wake word, enter the path to the
.ppnfile, or the name of one of Porcupine's built-in wake words.
When a Porcupine model expires, train and download a new one.
Tune the sensitivity
Sensitivity sets how readily the wake word triggers. The default is 50%. Higher catches more wakes but false-triggers more too.
TIP
In HomeDeck 1.0.1, the open engine at the default 50% only triggers when it is very sure, so it can seem not to hear you. Raise Sensitivity to about 75%, then adjust from there.
Voice replies
Speak replies reads a short confirmation aloud after each command, using Android's text-to-speech voice. Set its Volume below the switch, or turn it off for a silent panel.
Give commands
You do not need the wake word to use the assistant. Tap the round microphone button on any tab, then Tap to talk, or type in Type a command…. Hold the microphone button to start speaking straight away.
Commands the assistant understands:
| You say | What happens |
|---|---|
| "kitchen light on", "turn off the desk lamp" | Turns a device on or off |
| "turn off all the lights downstairs" | Acts on every matching device in a room |
| "toggle the fan" | Switches a device to the opposite state |
| "dim the desk lamp", "set the bedroom light to 40 percent" | Changes brightness |
| "set the thermostat to 21", "two degrees warmer" | Changes temperature |
| "is the garage light on" | Tells you a device's state |
| "activate the movie scene" | Runs a scene |
| "show me the front door camera" | Opens a camera |
| "wake the computer" | Sends Wake-on-LAN to a computer |
| "stop", "cancel", "never mind" | Ends the conversation |
Use the names and rooms you gave devices in HomeDeck. If a command could mean more than one device, the assistant asks Which one? and you answer by voice, by tapping, or by typing.
The assistant is a device controller. It does not chat, answer general questions or set timers.