With Proloquo2Go 5 your Apple Watch can now speak for you

Proloquo2Go

2 minute read
March 13, 2017

Proloquo2Go 5 adds Text to Speech on Apple Watch. Proloquo2GO on Apple Watch now not only offers the ability to show your message to your communication partner, version 5.0 also allows you to speak the message out loud.

In May 2015, shortly after Apple released Apple Watch, we introduced Proloquo2Go for Apple Watch. At the time, it had only a single mode. Switch users could use Apple Watch as a single switch to control Proloquo2Go on their iPhone. A few months later we added a communication mode. As there was no support for Text to Speech this was a form of silent communication. The app could show a full-screen message upside down to make it easy to read for communication partners.

The third iteration

We now bring you the third iteration of Proloquo2Go for Apple Watch and the good news is that it now speaks on any Apple Watch running watchOS 3! While not a full-fledged communication system such as Proloquo2Go on iPhone or iPad, the watch app gives you quick access to common phrases that you can prepare in Proloquo2Go for iPhone. Things such as “I can understand you but am unable to speak” or “Please wait while I get my phone”. Or, using the sentence builder mode say things such as “I need help with sweater”. Because Proloquo2Go 5 for Apple Watch now speaks it can also be used to communicate with another child that is not yet literate. The sound output draws attention and in a quiet setting can be easily understood.

Use cases

I recently attended a session by Jamie Knight at the CSUN conference in San Diego. Jamie has not been able to speak for the last year and a half and explained how important Apple Watch is to him. He uses our Proloquo4Text app, but much of the same principles apply. For example, he uses the watch app to order his favorite food at the local cafe. Because he is wearing it on his wrist he always has it with him (cannot forget it at home) and has access to communication in emergency situations.

There are many other situations where having some form of communication on your watch is very powerful. For example, a member of our adult AAC users Facebook group recently pointed out that it gives her a lot of comfort at airport security where you have to hand in your phone and iPad.

While Apple Watch may not be for everyone, we look forward to hearing about how people will use this latest update to Proloquo2Go for Apple Watch.