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How to Use Hound on Android Without an Activation Code

Jun 6, 2015 05:26 PM

Mobile phone displaying an app beside a laptop on a wooden surface.

SoundHound's new virtual assistant application, Hound, is gaining a lot of buzz in the tech world—especially after a demo video showed just how awesome it works (it has amassed over 1.6 million views in under a week).

Don't Miss: Amazing New Digital Assistant Shames Siri & Google Now

Hound can be put through the gauntlet against your current digital assistant, but only once you install the beta version from the Google Play Store and receive your activation code, which can take a few days.

Today, we're going to show you how to skip to the front of the line and get Hound activated on your Android phone right after you install the app.

Get Your Device Ready

In order for this process to work, you will need to ensure that your device is rooted. Along with root access, this will also require the Hound beta app, a root-capable file explorer (I'll be using ES File Explorer), and an app file provided by developer djh816 that'll grant us instant activation.

Hound Beta - Voice Search application installation prompt

Prep the Hound App

This is a short, but necessary step. Open the Hound app, then force-close it (through the app information page or the multitasking menu) once you see the welcome/activation page. Yep... that's it.

Welcome screen for Hound Beta with options to activate or request an invite.

How to Use Hound on Android Without an Activation Code

Extract Contents

Within your file explorer, navigate to the Downloads folder where the "HoundPreferences.xml" file will be. Tap and hold the .zip file, then select:

More -> Extract to -> Current path -> OK

File selection dialog for extracting files on a mobile device.

Now, tap and hold the newly extracted file and select "Copy."

Paste the File

With the file copied, navigate to the "shared_prefs" folder and paste the copy filed. You can find the folder by going to:

Device -> data -> data -> com.hound.android.app -> shared_prefs

When prompted, select "Overwrite," then exit the file explorer.

Launch Hound & Enjoy

Open the Hound app and you should now notice that it will skip the Activation step and launch directly into the actual app.

Voice command interface with the prompt "Speak now"

Try out some of the suggested commands and let us know which virtual assistant does a better job.

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The next big software update for iPhone is coming sometime in April and will include a Food section in Apple News+, an easy-to-miss new Ambient Music app, Priority Notifications thanks to Apple Intelligence, and updates to apps like Mail, Photos, Podcasts, and Safari. See what else is coming to your iPhone with the iOS 18.4 update.