Using RadiVoice
A phone that calls your own machine. This is how to set it up and how to talk to it.
A phone that calls your own computer. Here is how to set it up and how to talk to it.
A first version, written from real use. Corrections welcome — see the bottom.
Setting it up
Three things, once. After that it opens like any other app.
Three things, once. After that it opens like any other app.
Install it
Get the APK from the releases page and install it, or add the repository to Obtainium and let it track updates. Either way, check the signing key against the one published on the app's page — that is how you know the build is the one I signed.
Tell it where your machine is
On first run the server field is blank. The app ships with no address in it, so it sits idle until you supply one. Type in the address of your own machine, along with whatever credentials guard it.
If the field is empty and the app is idle, that is the app working correctly rather than failing to find something.
Let it be a phone
Android asks whether RadiVoice may manage its own calls. Say yes. That permission is what buys the lock screen, the earpiece and the bluetooth headset. Decline it and the app still works, with every conversation happening screen-on and phone in hand.
Talking to it
It behaves like a person on a call. These are the habits worth knowing.
It behaves like a person on a call. These are the habits worth knowing.
- Say its nameIt answers when addressed and stays quiet otherwise. Speech that leaves its name out is treated as speech meant for someone else, which is what makes it safe to leave running in a room with other people in it.
- Then keep talking for three minutesOnce it has answered, the next three minutes are an open conversation and you can carry on freely. The window used to be ninety seconds, which punished exactly the pause it should have been protecting, so it is now a flat three minutes.
- Pause mid-sentence, it waitsYour turn ends after about a second and a quarter of quiet. Long enough to think in the middle of a sentence, short enough that you are rarely waiting on it.
- It says what it is about to doBefore a long job it answers immediately in its own voice — that it will go and do the thing, in its own words. On a big one it says so and asks for a moment. Silence after you speak always means a fault, so treat it as one.
- Interrupt itYou can talk over it. The work stops, rather than only the speech — so cutting it off mid-answer calls the job off.
- It runs from the lock screenBecause it registers as a call, the controls sit on the lock screen and on a headset. A whole conversation can happen with the phone still locked.
When something is wrong
| Silence after you speak | A fault, every time. It is built to answer or to explain itself, so silence is the one response that always means something broke. |
|---|---|
| It answers, then ignores your follow-up | The three-minute window has closed. Say its name again. |
| It cuts you off mid-sentence | Report it. That was a real defect once — the app stopped listening while the server was still waiting — and both ends are matched now. |
| Bare lock screen | The call permission was declined at setup, or the phone is in a mode that hides notification content. |
It listens on your phone and thinks on your machine. Everything in between belongs to you, and the app holds only the address you gave it.
It listens on your phone and thinks on your computer. Everything in between belongs to you, and the app keeps only the address you typed in.
If it does something this page leaves unexplained, tell me. A manual that skips the confusing part is the one people stop trusting. aureliusxradix@pm.me
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