What is a Voice Prompt?
Voice Prompt are individually recorded prompt, used by Waze for turn-by-turn navigation.
They have a natural/ human tone that can be easily customised by language, voice talent, theme, etc. but unlike TTS, Voice Prompt do not include street names.
Want to add a new voice prompt in your language?
Get in touch with the [Community manager] and get the approval to start working on a new voice!
PLEASE NOTE: Please do not start the process below before getting approval from your Community Manager
There is a limited number of voices per language and the process depends on Waze voices team priorities and approval.
New Voice Prompt Process:
1. Have a script translated to your language.
- If the voice is an additional voice for the language, you can find the script here
- If the voice is a NEW voice, please make a copy of the script and translate it to your language.
2. Find a talent
The talent could be either a community member, a talent from voices.com or a public figure in your Country.
Please make sure that the talent doesn't have DUI (Driving Under Influence)
If it is a Public Figure please follow the below steps:
- Email Waze-Voices@google.com with the following information:
- Link to short biography about the talent
- Social Media Links (Twitter/Facebook page) - if relevant
- Wikipedia page - if relevant
- Any other useful information (Youtube clips, newspaper articles, etc)
- IMPORTANT: Don’t move on to step 3 until you have approval from Waze.
3. Get your talent on board and sent a demo
- Be sure to explain that this project 100% volunteer.
- Send talent details and voice samples to Waze-Voices@google.com:
- Voice samples do not need to be recorded professionally, it could be just the talent reading a few instructions.
- Once approved, complete and return the signed agreement.
4. Find a recording studio & get the costs approved (prior to the recording)
It’s important to work with a professional recording studio that can ensure quality prompts and avoid the need to re-record.
- Send studio Waze Recording Guidelines via email and confirm they can comply.
- Submit a written price quote from studio, including proposed price per hour and post-production time.
- Recording usually takes 2-3 hours + Post Production 1-2 hours.
- Get quote approval from Waze and schedule recording.
IMPORTANT: Check that recording studio accepts payments via PayPal or Credit Card.
Important: Studio and price breakdown must be approved by Waze before recording takes place. Waze is not responsible for cost incurred prior to approval or unapproved changes in the price.
5. Ready to Record
Before the recording session:
Send studio/audio engineer Waze Recording Guidelines and confirm that quality standards can be met.
- Provide a printed copy of the above guidelines to the audio engineer.
- Explain to the studio management/engineer that these guidelines must be followed or payment will not be sent.
Recording:
- All Mandatory prompts must be recorded.
- All distance measurements (kilometers, meters, miles, yards, and feet) must be recorded, no exceptions.
- Studio exports files following the format explained in Waze Recording Guidelines.
- Send all files to Waze-voices@google.com.
IMPORTANT - Instruct talent to speak SLOWLY & CLEARLY so users can easily understand the guidance.
6. Approval Process
As mentioned above, quality and accuracy are the most important part of getting Voice Prompts approved.
- Approval may take up to 3 weeks.
- If Waze Recording Guidelines are not followed, the studio must re-record.
- Unclear recording or missing files may result in an additional session.
7. Upload for testing & Community Feedback
All voice prompts go into testing before being released in the App. If you’d like to add people to the testing group, e-mail usernames with Voice Prompt name to Waze-Voices@google.com.
8. Go live!
After approval and testing is complete, the voice goes live in the Waze App and is available to users worldwide!