Use This Hack to Get the Pixel's AI Dictation on Any Android Phone

Rambler, Google's AI-powered dictation feature, seems genuinely useful. At its core, Rambler is like your phone's existing dictation tool, only much smarter. It can automatically edit your speech into a more polished end product. It'll eliminate your filler words like "um" and ah," shape up your grammar, and understand your intended meaning (e.g., if you say "we need to pick whole milk...I mean, oat milk," Rambler will type "we need to pick up oat milk.")

This is the type of feature most of us would like to have on our phones, there's only one problem: Despite developing the Android operating system, Google decided to make Rambler a Pixel 11-exclusive feature. As such, if you have a non-Pixel phone, like a Samsung or a Motorola, you're out of luck, unless you want to upgrade to one of Google's smartphones—or, as it turns out, download this third-party tool instead.

"PixelBoard" adds Rambler to any Android

As reported by Android Authority, developer Akshay Kadam modded Google's Gboard app and uploaded it to GitHub under the name PixelBoard. Kadam advertises PixelBoard as a "supercharged Gboard mod" sporting features from the Pixel 11 series—including AI writing tools, and, notably, Rambler.

According to Kadam's GitHub page, PixelBoard runs side-by-side with the Gboard app on your phone. You don't need to replace the existing app or uninstall it, nor do you need to root your Android. Still, this is an unofficial port that requires sideloading onto your Android device. While the tool comes from a public GitHub page, exercise caution if you want to give it a shot.

If you do, Kadam's GitHub page has detailed instructions for downloading the app on your phone. It seems you have three options: You can download PixelBoard directly from GitHub, then install it from the notification drawer or File Manager on your phone; if you're a developer, you can sideload the app by connecting your phone via USB with USB Debugging enabled; and, finally, you can patch the stock Gboard APK using Morphe Manager. (Kadam recommends the first method.)

Once you do have PixelBoard on your phone, head to Settings > System > Languages & input > On-screen keyboard (or Manage Keyboards), then enable PixelBoard. Tap the keyboard switch button or spacebar selector, then choose PixelBoard as the input method. To use Rambler, choose "Rambler Dictation" from this settings page, choose "Voice typing," then, under "Dictation type," switch from "Standard" to "Rambler."

Hopefully, Google brings Rambler to more phones in due time. But, until then, you can use PixelBoard to bring the feature to your device on your own.

via Lifehacker (author: Jake Peterson)