Making Voice AI Work Across All Android Devices

If you’ve ever tried using real-time voice features on different Android phones, you know the experience can be hit or miss. Some devices sound crystal clear, while others cut out, double your voice with echoes, or just feel glitchy. The problem comes down to Android’s fragmented ecosystem: every manufacturer handles audio processing differently, which makes it hard for developers to deliver a consistent experience.

That was a challenge for Perplexity’s Voice Mode, which is built on WebRTC and designed for natural back-and-forth conversations with AI. For voice interactions to feel smooth, two things are essential.

Voice activity detection (VAD): the system needs to know exactly when a person starts and stops talking. 

Acoustic echo cancellation (AEC): the system must prevent the user’s speaker audio from looping back into the microphone.

When these fail, conversations don’t feel natural; they feel frustrating.

"Our users expect Voice Mode to just work, regardless of their device," said Johnny Ho Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Perplexity. "SMPL's integration allows us to focus on building great user experiences rather than wrestling with device-specific audio issues."

To fix this, Perplexity partnered with SMPL. Their technology now powers the VAD and AEC layers in Perplexity’s Voice Mode. Instead of struggling with device-by-device inconsistencies, SMPL provides a uniform audio foundation that works reliably even on lower-end Android phones.

The result: real-time conversations on Perplexity now sound clearer, more natural, and more consistent across the wide range of Android devices people actually use. In practice, that means fewer interruptions, less echo, and a smoother back-and-forth flow that feels closer to a real conversation.

Android fragmentation has been a thorn in the side of voice developers for years. By addressing it head-on through SMPL’s integration, Perplexity can bring high-quality Voice AI to a much wider audience.