Qenzo AI Dictation Keyboard for Blind and Low-Vision Users

Qenzo was not built as an assistive product. It is a general dictation keyboard for Android: speak in any of 42 languages, mixed together if that is how you talk, and the finished text lands in whatever app is open — WhatsApp, Telegram, Gmail, Slack, notes. For someone who does not read the screen with their eyes, replacing typing with speaking removes a step that would otherwise depend on sight at every keystroke. This page says plainly where that holds up under TalkBack, and where it has not been checked.

Does the keyboard work with TalkBack?

For the core loop — open the keyboard, hold the microphone key, speak, release, and the text appears — yes. Deleting or fixing a word is part of that loop, and until recently it did not work under TalkBack: the backspace key had only a touch listener, so a TalkBack double-tap could not activate it. A TalkBack user could dictate but could not correct what came out. That bug was found and fixed; the fix was tested directly under TalkBack on a Samsung Galaxy A54, and it is live in the current build.

Qenzo's keyboard now follows a standing rule: every icon carries a screen-reader label (contentDescription), and every key responds to an explicit click listener rather than a touch-only one. That rule is meant to stop the same class of bug from coming back. It is a coding rule, not a device-by-device audit — the backspace fix is the one path that has actually been exercised under TalkBack and confirmed working. Other keys and gestures follow the same rule but have not each been separately re-tested on a screen reader.

Can a message be dictated and sent without looking at the screen?

The recording step does not require reading anything: hold the key, speak, release. Sending the message is a different question, because at that point control passes to whatever app you were typing in — WhatsApp's send button, Gmail's send button, and so on — and how well TalkBack reaches that button depends on that app's own accessibility, not on Qenzo.

One part of Qenzo sits outside that simple loop: a floating control that offers tone, recipient and rewriting after the text is dictated. Whether that control is reliably reachable by TalkBack's explore-by-touch has not been verified, and no live test of it under a screen reader exists yet. Until that is checked, the safer path for a TalkBack user is to dictate and send with the default tone, rather than to rely on finding the floating control by touch.

What happens to filler and false starts?

They are removed. Qenzo drops filler words, false starts, restarts and repetition, and keeps the meaning, the facts, the promises and the speaker's own register — it does not strengthen what was said into something firmer. For anyone editing by ear rather than by eye, this matters more than it sounds: it means the raw, messy way people actually talk does not have to be manually cleaned up afterward by someone who cannot see the extra words to delete them.

Can the finished text be re-read before sending?

Two different things answer to "re-read" here, and they should not be confused. First, Qenzo re-hears its own recording against the text it produced, so a misheard name or number gets corrected rather than guessed — this happens automatically, in the background, and is not something the user listens to. It also does not run when a tone, recipient or role rewrite has been applied to the text, since that path rewrites rather than re-listens.

Second, whether a person can have the finished text read back to them out loud, by TalkBack, before sending — that depends on the text field itself. Because Qenzo writes into the same standard text field the app would normally use, TalkBack's usual gesture for reading a field's contents should apply the same way it does for anything else typed there. That said, this is standard Android accessibility behavior inherited from the host app and the operating system, not a feature Qenzo built or has separately tested, so it is described here as expected rather than verified.

How does a voice message in your own voice help someone who cannot proofread by looking?

Qenzo Pro can turn finished text into a voice message in a clone of the user's own voice, built from a short sample recorded once, or in a ready-made voice. For someone who cannot scan a paragraph of text with their eyes to catch a mistake, this opens a different way to check the same content: listen to it rather than read it, before it goes out. That is a real, useful property of the feature even though it was not designed with this in mind.

What has not been verified is whether the specific control that plays back the generated audio for review is itself reachable and correctly labeled under TalkBack. The capability to hear the message exists; whether a TalkBack user can find and trigger the playback button reliably, on their own, has not been checked.

What is not solved yet

• One bug, one device, verified. The backspace fix is the one thing on this page that was actually tested live under TalkBack, on one phone (a Samsung Galaxy A54). Other keys follow the same coding rule but have not each been individually re-tested under a screen reader.
• The floating tone/rewrite control is unverified. Its reachability under TalkBack has not been confirmed. Treat it as untested rather than working.
• iPhone is untested for VoiceOver. Qenzo's iPhone app requires iOS 17 or newer. No VoiceOver testing has been done, and nothing here should be read as a claim about how Qenzo behaves under VoiceOver.
• The desktop clients are untested with a screen reader. macOS, Windows and Linux each have a released Qenzo client; none has been tested with VoiceOver, Narrator or Orca.
• No dedicated accessibility settings, no braille-display testing. There is no separate accessibility screen in the app, and no testing has been done with a braille display.
• One confirmed user, not an audit. Qenzo has at least one regular daily user who is blind and dictates in Indonesian. That is real, ongoing use outside a lab — it is not a substitute for testing across languages, Android versions and devices, and no identifying detail about that person is shared here or anywhere else.

Frequently asked questions

Does Qenzo's Android keyboard work with TalkBack?

Yes for the core loop of holding the microphone key, speaking, and deleting with backspace. The backspace key previously had only a touch listener and did not respond to a TalkBack double-tap; that was fixed and tested live under TalkBack on a Samsung Galaxy A54. Other keys follow the same rule but have not each been separately re-tested.

Can I dictate and send a message without looking at the screen?

Dictating does not require reading anything. Sending depends on the app you are typing in, since that is where the send button lives. Qenzo's own floating menu for tone and rewriting has not been verified as reachable under TalkBack, so the more reliable path today is to dictate and send with the default tone.

What happens to filler words and false starts?

They are removed automatically. The meaning, facts, promises and the speaker's own register are kept, and a promise is never made to sound stronger than it was said. This reduces how much cleanup a person editing by ear would otherwise need to do.

Can I hear or re-read the finished text before sending it?

Qenzo automatically re-hears its own recording against the text to fix misheard names and numbers, silently, in the background — that is separate from a person reading the result. Because the text lands in a normal text field, TalkBack's usual read-back gesture should work the same way it does anywhere else, though Qenzo has not separately tested this.

How does the voice-message feature help someone who cannot proofread visually?

Qenzo Pro can convert finished text into a voice message in a clone of the user's own voice. That gives a way to check the message by listening rather than reading. Whether the playback control used to preview it is itself accessible under TalkBack has not been verified.

Does Qenzo work with VoiceOver on iPhone?

Qenzo's iPhone app requires iOS 17 or newer. No VoiceOver testing has been done, and this page makes no claim about VoiceOver behavior on iPhone.

Is there a known blind user of Qenzo?

Yes. Qenzo has at least one regular daily user who is blind and dictates in Indonesian. Their continued use is real signal that the core dictation loop works outside a lab, but it is one person's use, not a formal accessibility audit, and no identifying detail about them is shared.

What has not been solved yet?

Verification beyond the backspace fix on one device, the floating tone/rewrite menu's reachability under TalkBack, any VoiceOver testing on iPhone, screen-reader testing on the desktop clients, and braille-display testing. These are open, not claimed as done.