AAC App Documentation

Password Editor

To get to the password editor, swipe right until you reach the “Password Options” screen, or press the options gear button in the lower right. The numbered buttons around the edges of the password editor are displayed in your current password.

Disable Password

To disable the password system, go to the password editor screen and click the “Disable Password” toggle button, just under the current password buttons. If the password is disabled, you will not have to enter a password when opening the button options window.

Press the “Disable Password” button, under the current password buttons.

The password is disabled in the image below.

Changing Your Password

The default password is shown in the first image below. To change your password, touch each quadrant of the password editor once, until all four quadrants have been set. The numbers will change to indicate your new password.

The default password is shown here in the password editor.

The top right quadrant has been pressed first.

The bottom right quadrant has been pressed second.

The bottom left quadrant has been pressed third.

The top left quadrant has been pressed fourth and the new password has been set.

Rotation

To get to the orientation editor, swipe right until you reach the “Screen Orientation” screen, or press the options gear button in the lower right, then select the rotation button at the bottom. You can choose between landscape, portrait, and free rotation. AAC – Speech Abilities was designed to run on landscape and the app is best viewed in that mode, but all three options are available for you to choose from.

Press to select your desired orientation.

iCloud Backup

To get to the backup editor, swipe right until you reach the “iCloud Backup” screen, or press the options gear button in the lower right, then select the cloud button at the bottom. You must be signed into iCloud and Game Center on your iOS device, in order to backup your profiles button data to the cloud. This data can be transferred to your other iOS devices or used to restore your data to a new device when you upgrade.

Press the gear on the bottom right, then press the cloud button on the bottom left.

Login

After logging into iCloud and Game Center on your device, press the login button on the bottom left. Once the login has completed, the other options will become available and you will receive a message at the bottom of the screen, indicating that you have been logged in.

Press the “Login” button on the bottom left.

If you are logged into iCloud and Game Center, you will be connected to your account.

Backup

After you have logged in ( link to Login) successfully, press the “Backup” button on the top left. This will take you to the “iCloud Save Slots” screen and you can get back by pressing the back button on the top left or swiping either left or right. Press any of the four save slots to backup your data to that slot. A warning message will popup letting you know that if there is already data in that slot, that data will be completely overwritten and cannot be recovered. Press the “Save” button to continue or the “Back” button to quit saving to the selected save slot. When the backup has completed you will receive a message at the bottom of the screen and the text on the save slot button will change to the date and time that the save was succeeded. Swipe left, right, or press the “Back” button on the top left portion of the screen.

Press the “Backup” button on the top left.

Select a slot to save to. You will override any saved data currently in this slot.

Press “Save” to confirm and override any data in this slot.

The text in on the button will change to the date and time that the backup succeeded.

Restore

After you have logged in successfully, press the “Restore” button on the top Right. This will take you to the “iCloud Save Slots” screen and you can get back by pressing the back button on the top left or swiping either left or right. If you have backed up data before, then that save slot will be selectable, otherwise it will not. Press any of the selectable save slots to restore your data to your device. A warning message will popup letting you know that the data on your device will be completely overwritten and cannot be recovered. Press the “Restore” button to continue or the “Back” button to quit restoring from the selected save slot. When the restore has completed, the app will restart and you will be sent back to the start screen.

Press the “Restore” button on the top right.

Select a slot to restore from. You will override any saved data currently on your device.

Press “Restore” to confirm and override any data on your device. The app will restart.

Google Drive Backup

To get to the backup editor, swipe right until you reach the “Google Drive Backup” screen, or press the options gear button in the lower right, then select the cloud button at the bottom. You must be signed into a Google (Gmail) account  on your device in order to backup your profiles button data to the cloud. This data can be transferred to your other Android devices or used to restore your data to a new device when you upgrade.

Press the gear on the bottom right, then press the cloud button on the bottom left.

Login

After logging into a Google (Gmail) account on your device, press the login button on the bottom left. The Google Game Center popup will ask which email you want to sign into and you will have to give the app permission to save to your Google Drive. Once the login has completed, the other options will become available and you will receive a message at the bottom of the screen, indicating that you have been logged in.

Press the “Login” button on the bottom left.

If you give permissions to use your Google Drive, you will be connected to your account.

Backup

After you have logged in ( link to Login) successfully, press the “Backup” button on the top left. When the backup has completed you will receive a message at the bottom of the screen.

Press the “Backup” button on the top left to begin saving your data to Google Drive.

Once the backup is complete you will receive a message at the  bottom of the screen.

Restore

After you have logged in (link to Login) successfully, press the “Restore” button on the top Right. Your previous backups will appear and you can select a one to restore to your device. All of the data currently on your device will be deleted and cannot be recovered unless you have backed it up. Once a restore point has been selected, the Google Drive Backup screen will appear while the data is loaded and then the app will restart.

Press the “Restore” button on the top right.

Select a previous backup to restore to your device. This will overwrite your current data.

When the data is done compiling, the app will restart with the restored data.

Text-To-Speech

To get to the text-to-speech editor, swipe right until you reach the “TTS Options” screen, or press the options gear button in the lower right, then select the tts button at the bottom. Press the “Sample” button to hear a sample of the currently selected tts for the device.

On Android, the “TTS” button will take you to the device’s tts options, where you can set the pitch, tone, and choose between your downloaded tts voices.

On iOS, the “TTS” button will play a message and show a popup that tells you how to navigate to the devices tts options. Go to general, settings, voice over, then speech to select between your installed tts voices.

On both devices, you can download and/or purchase different tts voices and tts engines that should run seamlessly with the AAC –  Speech Abilities app.

TTS Options screen.

[MISSING IMAGE]iOS popup for directions to set your tts options.

Sharing Your Profile Info

You’ve worked hard on creating a perfectly grouped and organized profile button set, that serves a specific purpose, such as going shopping, and you want to share it with others. It is very simple to share your design with the community of AAC – Speech Abilities users. From the “Select Profile” screen, select the profile name, from the dropdown, that you wish to share. Then, press the “Share” button on the bottom right and you will see a popup, that gives some insight into what sharing a profiles button set does. Press “Continue,” and on the next page, fill out your name, email address, and a description of the profile button set. If you wish to receive an email when new button sets are released, then leave the checkbox at the bottom checked. When you are done, press “Continue” and you will receive a “Thank You For Registering” message, once the data has been sent.

Select a profile then press “Share” on the bottom right.

Press “Continue,” after reading the community sharing message.

Enter your name, email, and a short description of the profile button set and press “Continue.”

Downloading Community Template

When a user of the AAC – Speech Abilities app, creates a button set that they feel could benefit others, they can submit the profile’s button set for community sharing. After we approve the content, we will make it available to all users to use as a template, when creating a new profile in the app.

When creating a profile (link to Create New Profile), on the “Initial Layout” screen, press the “Download” button on the bottom right. Enter your name and email, then select the button template that you would like to download from the dropdown. The name should give you an idea of what is in the button set, and there is a short description that will appear below the dropdown box. Once you have selected a template, press the “Continue” button and you will see a “Thank You For Registering” message when the download has finished. If you wish to receive an email when new templates have been added, then leave the checkbox checked before continuing. If there are no more downloads available, you will be sent back to the “Initial Layout” screen. If there are more, then you can download as many as you like or press “Back” to leave this screen.

Swipe left or press “Create” to begin.

Enter a profile name. If you aren’t sent to the next page, swipe left or press “Next.”

Press “Download” to go to the downloading screen.

Enter your name and email address, select a template and press “Continue” to download.

From the “Select Profile” screen, swipe left, or press the “Create” button on the top right. On the “Create Profile” screen, enter a name for your profile. This can be a person’s name,  the name of a category that you intend to design, such as “Going Shopping,” or whatever else you want it to be. After naming, you will be sent directly to the “Initial Layout” screen. If you are not, then press the “Next” button on the top right, or swipe left. In the “Initial Layout” screen, select a starting button set from the dropdown box or press “Download” to download a new template. After selecting a template button set, swipe left or press “Next” on the upper right to select your button sizes. The “Button Size” screen, shows you the size that the buttons will be and the number of buttons for each page. Select one of the options, then press “Next” on the top right, to create and load your new user.

Swipe left or press “Create” to create a new Profile.

Press the white box in the middle to name your user.

Choose a name or descriptor that tells you about your button set.

Select a template button set from the dropdown, then press “Next” or swipe left.

Choose “Empty Buttons” for a completely blank button set.

Select the button size, and press “Next” or swipe left to finalize your new user.

The “Bob” profile that we created is now an option for a new profile template.

[MISSING IMAGE]

When you create a new profile, you will be shown the current password and prompted to enter it with visual cues. After the initial guided password entry, pressing the pencil button on the bottom right, will open the password panel, but will not show you the password. Touch the center or enter an incorrect password to go back. The default password is shown in the first image below.

Password tutorial with default password shown.

Press the pencil button, on the bottom right, to open the password panel.

Touch the four corners in the correct order to open the editor.

Press the pencil button, enter your password, then the button editor will open.

Select the button that you want to edit.

Select the background color picker and press a color button.

Select the border color picker and press a color button.

Main Panel Search

Open the editor (link to Editing Buttons) and select the button that you want to edit. Click the button label in the top right of the editor. Type the name of the image you are searching for and the top 3 image matches will appear below the label input field. Press the image you wish to apply to the selected button.

Select the button you want to edit and press the white label box on the top right of editor.

Enter the search text. Here we are searching for images that start with the letter “C.”

The top 3 search results will appear under the label box.

We have selected the cabbage image.

Image Selector Panel

Open the editor (link to Editing Buttons) and select the button that you want to edit, then press the “Image” button on the left side of the editor window.

Press the “Image” button on the left side of the editor window.

Search Box

Enter the name of the images you want to search for in the search box at the top of the Image Editor window. This will show all images that start with the search text, so if you wish to search all of the images that start with “a” then type “a” into the search box and press enter. The dropdown box will open with the results from your search. Press the image that you wish to add to the selected button and then press the “Apply” button.

Press search box and enter the name of the image you are searching for.

The dropdown box will expand with your search results.

Selecting an image will add it to the “Image Editor” button.

Press “Apply” in the bottom right to add the image to the selected button.

Dropdown Box

Press the dropdown box under the search box and scroll down until you find an image you are looking for. Select the image and press “Apply” to add it to the selected button.

Press the dropdown box under the search box to see available images.

Select the image you want to edit from the dropdown box.

Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

Internet Images

To search for images on the internet, press the “Web Image” button on the right of the Image Editor window. Enter the image you are searching for in the search box at the top. Wait for the images to populate, then select the image that you wish to add to the Image Editor button or press “Back” to cancel. Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

Press “Web Image” on the right of the Image Editor window.

Press the search box in the internet search window.

Enter the name of the image you are searching for.

Wait for the image buttons to populate, then select the image you want to use.

The Image Editor window will return with the image in the editor.

Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

Device Image Gallery

From the Image Editor window, press the “Gallery Image” button on the right and click yes on the popup to allow the app to access your image gallery. Navigate to the picture that you want to use and select it. The Image Editor will return with the image showing in the editor.  Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

Press the “Gallery Image” button on the right of the Image Editor window.

Navigate to the image you want to use.

Select the image that you want to use. We will select the cartoon dog at the bottom.

The image will appear in the Image Editor window.

Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

Camera

From the Image Editor (link to Image Selector Panel), press the “Camera” button on the right and click yes on the popup to allow the app to access your camera. The camera on your device will open and you can snap a picture. Click “Retake” in the bottom left if you are not satisfied with the image or press “Use Photo” to import the photo to the Image Editor. Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

Press the “Camera” button to open your camera.

Snap a picture, then press “Use Photo” on the bottom right to return to the Image Editor.

The image will appear in the Image Editor window.

Press “Apply” to add the image to the selected button.

To reset an image to the center, press the “Reset” button then press the “Apply” button.

Press the “Image” button on the left to open the Image Editor Window.

Drag the image to move it around the previewer.

Pinch the image to resize it in the previewer.

Press the rotate button below the previewer to rotate the image in the previewer.

Press “Apply” to add the image modifications to the selected button.

To reset the image, press the “Reset” button under the previewer.

Press “Apply” to see the changes on the selected button.

Press the “Recording” button on the left to open the Audio Recorder window.

Wait for the timer to reach zero, before recording.

Record your voice while the record button is red.

Press “Stop” to stop the recording.

Use the slider in the middle to cut out the dead space at the beginning of the recording.

Press “Save” in the bottom right to apply the recording to the button.

Press “Recording” on the left to close the Audio Recording window and “Play Msg” is selected.

Button or Folder

A button will usually play a sound and has some sort of function other than opening a new window of buttons.

A folder will open a new window of buttons. When a folder is selected, press the “Next” button at the bottom to open the next window.

No Action

When No Action is selected, the button or folder will not perform an action, such as playing a sound or adding the buttons image to the top play bar. This is turned on by default for a folder (link to Button or Folder), but can be toggled so the folder will perform its actions as a button would, but still opens another window of buttons.

Hide Button

When Hide Button is selected, the button will not be shown, or be clickable, when the editor is closed. This will not remove the customization that you have applied to the button, it just makes it invisible until you open the editor again.

Home Button

A home button, goes back to the home page and closes all open pages. When Home Button is selected, a folder will automatically become a button. A folder cannot be a home button, because a folder opens a new set of buttons. Pressing Folder, will deselect Home Button, as well.