An Android shortcut that opens ChatGPT and navigates directly to the conversation with your chosen Dot. The default name is zip. You can put its icon on your home screen or assign it to a phone button that supports launching an app.
This is an independent, experimental utility, unaffiliated with OpenAI. It uses UI automation because a working public Dot-specific deep link was not identified in the tested ChatGPT build.
- Download
talk-to-dot.apkfrom the latest release and install it on your Android phone. - Open Talk to Dot, tap Open Accessibility settings, and enable its service.
- If Android blocks enabling a sideloaded service, review the app and then use Settings → Apps → Talk to Dot → ⋮ → Allow restricted settings, if offered by your device. Return to Accessibility and enable Use Talk to Dot. Menu names vary by phone.
- To choose a different Dot, long-press the Talk to Dot icon and select Choose Dot. Enter its name exactly as shown in ChatGPT’s sidebar, choose a Home screen icon, then tap Save changes or Save and open Dot. You can also open this screen from the Accessibility service’s settings.
- Open Talk to Dot again. Allow a few seconds for it to navigate to Message .
- Add its icon to your home screen or select it in your phone's Launch app button setting.
To stop automation, disable the Talk to Dot Accessibility service. To remove it completely, uninstall Talk to Dot.
- Android 8/API 26 or newer for this utility; ChatGPT itself may require a newer Android version.
- ChatGPT installed and signed in, with Dot access already set up.
- An existing Dot whose sidebar name exactly matches the saved name, and the interface labels described below.
v1.3.0 adds configurable home-screen icons with original Dot-style character artwork and a live preview. The default icon is a green frog resembling Zip; zip remains the default name. Download the signed APK from Releases; it updates existing installations without changing the saved name.
Version 1.2.0 and newer support a saved Dot name. Long-press the app icon → Choose Dot, or open Talk to Dot under Android Accessibility and use its service settings. The setup screen also has a Choose Dot button when the service is disabled.
Enter the exact sidebar name, including capitalization, and tap Save changes. Leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed; blank names are rejected. Save and open Dot saves the name and launches the shortcut. Reset name to zip immediately restores the default name without changing the icon. The setting survives app restarts and updates. Existing installations without a saved name continue using zip.
The app retains its Talk to Dot name regardless of the chosen Dot; its launcher icon can be selected independently. Changing the setting does not rename or create a Dot in ChatGPT. If your launcher does not expose app shortcuts, use the Accessibility service’s settings instead. On the tested Niagara setup, long-press opens Niagara’s own menu; the Accessibility settings gear provides a reliable route to this picker.
Open Choose Dot, select a Home screen icon, then tap Save changes or Save and open Dot. The preview updates immediately; the launcher changes only after saving. Available icons are Frog, Cat, Fox, Bear, Owl, and Classic D. The green frog is the default, and the selected icon survives reopening settings and signed app updates.
| Frog | Cat | Fox | Bear | Owl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
These are original illustrations inspired by the rounded character style of Dots, rather than official OpenAI assets. The picker uses the same artwork as the launcher. This changes the shortcut’s appearance; it does not change your Dot’s avatar in ChatGPT. Android App info and the Accessibility service retain the default frog icon.
Launchers may take a moment to refresh. Some launchers remove a home-screen entry when its icon component changes; if that happens, add Talk to Dot again from the app list. A phone button configured for the previous launcher component may also need Talk to Dot selected again. Choose Dot remains available through the active icon’s long-press shortcut and the Accessibility service’s settings.
Install the latest signed APK over your existing installation. Version 1.2.1 introduced the Talk to Dot name; version 1.3.0 replaces the default D icon with a green frog and adds the icon picker. Classic D is available if you prefer the previous icon. Your saved Dot name and existing Accessibility authorization remain compatible; zip is still the default.
The Android package local.zipshortcut and service component ZipService retain their original identifiers for update compatibility. The original MainActivity launcher identifier now acts as the frog alias for a stable LauncherActivity; other icon choices use their own launcher aliases. The repository is now looizao/talk-to-dot, and new builds produce talk-to-dot.apk. Versions 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 were published before the rename; their existing APK assets remain named talk-to-zip.apk and display the former app name.
LauncherActivity, through the existing MainActivity navigation implementation, starts ChatGPT's launcher activity, using CLEAR_TOP and SINGLE_TOP so an old screen above it does not prevent navigation. It arms ZipService for at most 30 seconds. The service snapshots the locally saved name at launch, defaulting to zip.
IconSettings switches among Android launcher aliases. Android 13+ applies the component changes as a batch; on older Android, the new alias is enabled before the old ones are disabled. The target LauncherActivity and ZipService remain enabled. Each alias carries the Choose Dot shortcut metadata.
The Accessibility service inspects ChatGPT's visible accessibility nodes and:
- Stops after the composer exactly matches Message with the sidebar closed for a short confirmation period.
- Selects the entry whose name exactly matches the saved Dot name if the sidebar is open, identified by Scheduled.
- Opens Menu from a regular ChatGPT screen.
- Uses Navigate up or Navegar para cima when a nested screen such as Tasks has a back arrow instead of Menu, then continues toward the sidebar.
It tries a node's click action, then a clickable parent, and finally a gesture at the node's bounds. Navigation advances as soon as Accessibility reports a usable next screen. A 120 ms watchdog handles missed events, and a 700 ms retry delay applies only when the same action remains visible, avoiding duplicate menu toggles. After selecting a Dot, it watches for the composer instead of reopening the menu while the old chat controls remain visible. A 4-second recovery window handles a stalled selection; it does not postpone completion when the composer is ready. The destination is confirmed for 150 ms to reject transient screen state. Nodes are refreshed and the active ChatGPT window is checked again before clicking or dispatching a gesture. Switching apps pauses interaction; returning within the 30-second deadline resumes it. Accessibility feedback interruption does not cancel navigation. The shortcut times out if it cannot reach the selected Dot. It does not send a message or start a call.
Android grants Accessibility services broad screen-reading and interaction capabilities. This service is configured for com.openai.chatgpt and checks the active package before interacting. It acts only during the 30-second window after you launch the shortcut.
The app requests no INTERNET permission, has no analytics or remote service, and does not persist conversation content. Debug-level Android logs record generic navigation actions and duration, without Dot names or chat content. Its preference storage contains the selected Dot name, icon choice, and the temporary automation deadline and start time. The source and manifest are available for inspection.
Version 1.1 was tested on a Motorola Edge 60 Pro with ChatGPT 1.2026.272:
- Ordinary ChatGPT screen → shortcut → Message zip.
- ChatGPT restart → shortcut → Message zip.
- Tasks → Home → tap Talk to Dot in Niagara Launcher → Message zip.
- The same Tasks flow with an ordinary new chat beneath Tasks, verifying that automation returns, opens the sidebar, and selects Zip.
Configuration was also checked on-device: the default zip, saving and reopening a custom name, rejecting a blank save, timing out for a nonexistent name without selecting a different Dot, resetting to zip, and Save and open Dot.
Version 1.2.0 also has ADB-driven device checks for background music, launching from YouTube Music, restarting ChatGPT from Chrome under bounded CPU load, and switching to Music during cold startup before returning to ChatGPT. Tests check the exact destination composer and that Music remains foreground during interruption.
For repeatable checks on an unlocked phone with Accessibility enabled and the chosen name already saved:
export ANDROID_SERIAL="your-device-serial" # Required when multiple devices are connected.
python scripts/device-check.py music --dot-name zip
python scripts/device-check.py cold --dot-name zip
python scripts/device-check.py interrupted --dot-name zipThese checks open an ordinary new chat, visit Tasks, launch YouTube Music or Chrome, and may force-stop ChatGPT. Start music yourself before testing; the script does not start playback. They never send messages. UI snapshots are stored in ignored build/device-checks/ and may contain private screen content; do not publish them. The script requires the tested interface labels and those two apps. UiAutomator snapshots can temporarily affect Accessibility services, so navigation timing should be treated as approximate; the interrupted check uses activity state while the request is armed.
The v1.1 checks were manual. GitHub Actions verifies APK compilation and signing, but does not prove navigation works on every ChatGPT version. App updates, translated labels, a Dot renamed without updating the setting, or unexpected dialogs can break the shortcut.
Version 1.2.0 removes the previous 500 ms startup wait, 400 ms polling interval, and 1.2-second delay between different navigation actions. Accessibility events drive progress immediately; retries of the same unchanged action remain throttled.
A device comparison from Tasks with ChatGPT already running measured 2,266 ms before this change and 926 ms afterwards. A launcher run with an ordinary chat beneath Tasks also reached Zip successfully. Timing measures service start to accessibility confirmation of the target composer, rather than the moment pixels finish animating. These are individual checks, not guaranteed performance numbers.
Final reliability checks on the same phone recorded 1,061 ms when launching from Music with playback active, 6,711 ms for a cold start from Chrome with music and two bounded CPU load workers, and 4,294 ms for a cold-start interruption including a two-second stay in Music before returning. All reached the exact Zip composer; the interruption check also verified Music stayed foreground. Timing includes the launch request and survives service reconnections. ADB UI inspection affects Accessibility delivery, so these are approximate diagnostic timings, not a benchmark.
ChatGPT startup remains outside the shortcut’s control: a check after force-stopping ChatGPT took 8,032 ms. This is still menu automation, not a native direct Dot link. The tested ChatGPT app registers a direct Remote route but no equivalent Dot route was found.
Install JDK 17+ and the Android SDK command-line tools, then:
export ANDROID_HOME="/path/to/Android/Sdk"
# Set JAVA_HOME if java is not already on PATH.
"$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager" \
'platforms;android-36' 'build-tools;36.1.0'
./scripts/build.shOutputs: dist/talk-to-dot.apk and dist/SHA256SUMS.txt. Without release credentials the script creates a local development signing key in ignored build/. A development-signed APK cannot update an official release without uninstalling it first.
The PNG artwork is committed, so regular builds need no graphics dependencies. To edit and regenerate the original icons:
python3 -m venv build/icon-tools
build/icon-tools/bin/pip install CairoSVG==2.9.1
build/icon-tools/bin/python scripts/render-icons.pySVG sources live in art/icons/ and are covered by the project’s MIT license. APK builds also compile the R.java source generated by Android’s resource packager.
For a release build, supply RELEASE_BUILD=true, KEYSTORE_PATH, KEYSTORE_PASSWORD, optional KEY_PASSWORD, and KEY_ALIAS. Keep the keystore private. SDK versions can be overridden with SDK_PLATFORM and BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION.
From a clone of this repository, with gh authenticated:
gh workflow run build.yml --ref main
gh run list --workflow build.yml --limit 5
# Replace RUN_ID with the run you just dispatched.
gh run watch RUN_ID --exit-status
gh run download RUN_ID --dir downloaded-apkManual, main-branch, and pull-request builds produce development APKs. Download official signed APKs from Releases:
gh release download --pattern 'talk-to-dot.apk' --pattern 'SHA256SUMS.txt'
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txtThe Build APK workflow runs on pushes to main, pull requests, manual dispatch, and v* tags. Tag builds use the persistent signing key in Actions secrets. A successful tag build publishes the APK and SHA-256 checksum through gh release create.
For the current release procedure and signing setup, see RELEASING.md. Device checks include settings persistence, blank-name rejection, reset to the default, and the Tasks navigation regression. Broader device and language compatibility testing remains future work.
MIT.