Some of us like being told where to go by a bloke, others prefer to take their instructions from a woman, or perhaps one of the many celebrity voices that are available for download for use with GPS navigation programs.
But Waze has taken the whole idea a step further allowing users to record their own dulcet tones so they can tell themselves where to turn next or make a U-turn.
Get it wrong and you get to chastise yourself for being an idiot – how good is that?
For those not familiar with Waze it was started by three Israelis back in 2006, but acquired by Google for close to $1 billion big ones in 2013.
It’s not surprising as Waze won the Best Overall App award at the 2013 Mobile World Congress, ahead of Dropbox and Flipboard.
Facebook was also rumoured to be interesting in getting it hands on the business.
Interestingly Waze is also one of only two navigation apps that are provided for Uber drivers to use – Google Maps is the other one.
In fact, many people suggest Waze is just Google Maps in disguise.
But we digress.
Getting back to using your own voice for navigation – here’s a blow by blow guide of what you need to do.
First download and install the app. It’s doesn’t cost anything to do so or use, but relies on the data from your phone for routing and traffic updates.
The following steps are for Android devices, the process may differ for iPhone users – the option has only just become available on iOS.
To record your voice directions:
- Tap the Menu
, then Settings
.
- Tap Sound & voice.
- Tap Voice directions.
- Tap Voice recorder.
- Tap Name your voice to give your set of recordings a name and tap Done.
- Tap on the type of direction you’d like to record; tap the record icon
to start recording and stop
when you’ve finished recording. To play your recording back, tap the play icon
.
- Tap Save.
Note: Please remember to be accurate while recording for safety’s sake. Additionally, your voice recording is saved locally, so if you delete and reinstall Waze you may lose your recording.
To share your voice recording:
Send your voice recording to friends and they’ll hear your recorded directions while navigating with Waze.
- Tap the Menu
- Tap Sound & voice.
- Tap Voice directions.
- Tap Share
on iOS or
on Android and then Share again.
- Choose your preferred method (SMS, WhatsApp, etc.). and select the friend with whom you’d like to share the voice.
- Your friend will then receive a link to the recording and the option to use it in Waze for their own navigation.
To use these features, please ensure you’re using Waze version 4.26.