A method for performing an action on an application, the method comprising: storing, on a user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850) associated with a user, a list of control terms, each control term in the list of control terms configured to invoke the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850) to instruct an application to perform a particular action; receiving, at the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), a voice input from the user while continuously monitoring, at the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 700, 850), for spoken input, the voice input comprising one of the control terms in the list of control term stored on the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850) and one or more other terms; before converting any portion of the voice input into text, identifying, by the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), without receiving any additional input from the user after receiving the voice input that the voice input comprises the one of the control terms in the list of control terms stored on the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850); in response to identifying that the voice input comprises the one of the control terms, processing, by the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), the one or more other terms in the received voice input to identify a subject of the particular action for the application to perform, wherein processing the one or more other terms that follow the one of the control terms in the received voice input comprises performing speech-to-text conversion on the one or more other terms in the received voice input to identify the subject of the particular action; and instructing, by the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), the application to perform the particular action based on the subject of the particular action identified by the processing of the one or more other terms. storing, on a user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850) associated with a user, a list of control terms, each control term in the list of control terms configured to invoke the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850) to instruct an application to perform a particular action; receiving, at the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), a voice input from the user while continuously monitoring, at the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 700, 850), for spoken input, the voice input comprising one of the control terms in the list of control term stored on the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850) and one or more other terms; before converting any portion of the voice input into text, identifying, by the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), without receiving any additional input from the user after receiving the voice input that the voice input comprises the one of the control terms in the list of control terms stored on the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850); in response to identifying that the voice input comprises the one of the control terms, processing, by the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), the one or more other terms in the received voice input to identify a subject of the particular action for the application to perform, wherein processing the one or more other terms that follow the one of the control terms in the received voice input comprises performing speech-to-text conversion on the one or more other terms in the received voice input to identify the subject of the particular action; and instructing, by the user device (104, 200, 422, 710, 800, 850), the application to perform the particular action based on the subject of the particular action identified by the processing of the one or more other terms.