Courtesy of Waze App
We can't do much about the endless traffic on the Parkway or the torture of school drop-offs, but we may have found a way to make the whole stuck-in-traffic experience a little more enjoyable.
My 12-year-old daughter was playing with my Waze app the other day (she loves to change the voices), and, she stumbled across a way to create her own custom voice commands. This fun recording addition was recently rolled out to iPhones, but had already been out for Androids. She was using my phone during a particularly long drive and made it so that her adorable little voice now gives me directions. And since her voice is my favorite thing, hearing her say "turn right" is a delightful addition to my day.
She thought it would be hysterical to do her "accents" and to make up things. So instead of "hazard on the road," I get "toxic hazard ahead" anytime there's a car with a flat tire. And her "ugh, traffic" in a deep and sad voice makes me laugh endlessly as my car comes to a standstill on Rte. 80. It's like she's with me, even when she's having the time of her life at camp and I'm trudging along to work. And there's not much more joyful than her "Hallelujah, you have arrived" with her hybrid British/Australian accent announcing our arrival at our destination.
Even if you don't have a budding comedian on your hands or your kids are younger, setting this up is easy (and even easier if they know how to read since they’ll just need to record themselves reading a list of directions). It only takes about ten minutes or so, and it’ll capture their voice so you can keep them with you forever.
Here's how to do it:
- Open your Waze app
- Find the search button. When the Where To screen pops up, hit the settings icon in the top left-hand corner
- Press Voice Directions
There, you'll see the options for traditional Waze voices. At the top, hit Record New Voice. Click on the Plus button and you’re on your way.
It’ll give you prompts for each command that it needs (ie in 0.1 miles, turn right at the light) so your kiddo hit the record button when ready for each command. Save their masterpiece, pop in your destination like you normally would, and you’re ready to hit the road.
Safe travels!
