GoPro HERO5 Voice Commands

GoPro introduced voice control with the two HERO5 cameras (Black and Session). It allows you to control some of the camera’s basic functions with just your voice, hands-free.

That can be especially convenient when your hands are busy holding onto something else, or if the camera is just out of reach. Your mileage might vary and will depend on the conditions you’re shooting in. It doesn’t work well in noisy conditions, if the camera is inside a housing, or if you’re far away from the camera, and it doesn’t work at all underwater. But in some conditions it can be an especially useful way to control your GoPro’s filming when your hands are otherwise occupied, you’re wearing mittens or gloves, or the camera isn’t in an easily accessible place.

Both models in the HERO5 lineup (Black and Session) have voice controls. The functionality is mostly the same with both cameras, with the same available features and list of voice commands. Since the HERO5 Session doesn’t have a back touchscreen, obviously you can’t use that to change the settings on that camera.

Here’s a rundown on how to use voice commands with the HERO5 cameras.

How to Turn Voice Control On & Off on the HERO5

There are a few methods of enabling and disabling voice control on the HERO5 cameras.

Enabling Voice Control on the HERO5 Black

On the HERO5 Black, you can use the shortcut panel on the back screen. It’s the icon at the top right–it looks like a person speaking. You can toggle it on or off by tapping on the icon.

A second way is to use the regular menu system. Go to:

Preferences > Voice Control > On Camera Voice Control > ON/OFF

A third is to use the GoPro Quik app. Go to:

Camera Preferences > Setup > Voice Control

Enabling Voice Control on the HERO5 Session

The HERO5 Session doesn’t have a back screen, so that method doesn’t apply on this camera. You can still use the GoPro Quik app as well as this camera-specific online menu.

HERO5 Session Menu System to Enable Voice Control:

1. Press the Menu button to access the status screen.
2. Scroll through the options by repeatedly pressing the Menu button. When the Voice Control option is showing, press the Shutter button to select it.
3. To enable voice control, press the Shutter button to select On. Then press Menu to go to the checkmark. Then press the Shutter button again to confirm the choice. (To disable voice control, choose Off instead.)

HERO5 Session GoPro Mobile App to Enable Voice Control:

Alternatively, you can use the GoPro Quik mobile app. Go to:

Camera Preferences > Setup > Voice Control

Action Commands

The voice commands on the GoPro HERO5 are divided into a couple of different categories. The Action Commands control capture.

With some of the other commands, you can specify a different shooting mode. For instance, if your camera is in the video mode (but not currently recording), saying “GoPro Take a Photo” will take a photo without you having to first change to the photo mode.

Voice Command	What it Does
GoPro START RECORDING	Starts recording video in the currently active video preset.
GoPro HILIGHT	Adds a HiLight Tag to your video that will be accessible in video playback.
That was sick	Adds a HiLight Tag to your video that will be accessible in video playback.
GoPro STOP RECORDING	Stops video recording.
GoPro TAKE A PHOTO	Takes a single photo. (Does not work when the camera is already filming.)
GoPro SHOOT BURST	Takes burst photos. (Does not work when the camera is already filming.)
GoPro START TIME LAPSE	Starts timelapse capture in the last timelapse mode you used (photo or video). (Does not work when the camera is already filming.)
GoPro STOP TIME LAPSE	Stops the timelapse capture.

Mode Commands

In addition to the Action Commands, there are also some that help you switch camera modes.

There are two important things to note about these:

1. These do not activate the shutter. That is, it won’t actually start recording a video or taking a photo or timelapse.
2. Switching modes doesn’t work if the camera is currently recording video or timelapse. You’ll need to stop the recording first (by either saying “GoPro stop capture” or pressing the shutter button).
   

Voice Command	What it Does
GoPro VIDEO MODE	Switches to video mode.
GoPro PHOTO MODE	Switches to photo mode.
GoPro BURST MODE	Switches to burst photo mode.
GoPro TIMELAPSE MODE	Switches to timelapse mode.

Turning the HERO5 Off with Your Voice

You can also turn the camera off with your voice.

To turn the camera off, just say “GoPro Turn Off.”

Some newer models include a Wake on Voice feature that lets you turn the camera on with a verbal command. The HERO5 Black and HERO5 Session do not have the Wake on Voice feature.

But there is a workaround if you’re using the (now discontinued) Remo remote. You can use the Remo’s Wake on Voice command to wake a HERO5.

Quick Reference

While I hope this page is helpful in laying out what voice commands are available on the HERO5 Black, there’s a quicker shortcut reference that’s especially useful if you’re out and about shooting on location.

The list is available directly through the HERO5 Black’s menu system. Just go to:

Preferences > Voice Control > List of Commands

The photo at the top of this page is the list on the menu.

Things Worth Knowing

Every command needs to start with “GoPro . . . “. This alerts the camera to listen to the following command. The only exception is the “This is sick” command to add a HiLight bookmark to the video.

The camera needs to pick up your voice cleanly for it to register. So you need to be quite close to your camera, and performance might be affected by wind noise or other noise. It also does not work very well if the camera is inside a protective housing.

Voice commands are the kind of things that GoPro can tweak with firmware. So it’s worth making sure that your camera’s firmware is up to date for the latest list of commands. ¹

Unlike Siri or Alexa, the HERO5 cameras don’t talk back. And if you’ve turned off the beeps, that can make it hard to know whether it has registered your command. So I often find it useful to enable beeps when using voice control.

HERO5 Voice Control Languages

GoPro Voice Control is also available in other languages.

There are two methods you can choose from to change the language. The first is to use the camera’s main menu system by going to:

Preferences > Voice Control > Language

The other method is to use the GoPro Quik mobile app by going to:

Camera Preferences > Setup > Voice Control Language

The available voice control languages on the HERO5 are:

• English (UK/US/AUS)
• French
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish (EU / NA)
• Chinese (Mandarin)
• Korean
• Japanese

The voice control language is set independently of the menu system language, so they don’t have to match.

1. For the list of available commands and languages here, I’m using firmware version 02.70.[↩]