Tag: assistant

Google Assistant is now smarter and more useful than ever. Google revealed that its personal digital assistant now supports shortcuts for third-party apps. Basically, Android users will be able to use Assistant voice commands within some of the most popular apps not made by Google.

For example, if you’re looking for something specific within an app, you can say, “Hey Google, open Taylor Swift on Snapchat.” But that’s not all! The new functionality allows Android users to play music, start a run, post on social media, order food, make payments, hail a ride, and much more – all with just their voice.

To make things even more convenient, Google Assistant now lets users create custom shortcut phrases for their favorite apps. For example, you could create a shortcut to just say, “Hey Google, lace it,” instead of saying the longer version, “Hey Google, tighten my shoes with Nike Adapt.” To start making shortcuts simply say, “Hey Google, show my shortcuts,” and you’ll be taken to the setting screen.

There are dozens of third-party apps that now support shortcuts, including Yahoo! Mail, Nike Adapt, Nike Run Club, Spotify, Best Buy, Instagram, Google Maps, YouTube, Instagram, Uber, PayPal, Discord, Walmart, Snapchat, and many more.

Google is trying to make Assistant a useful tool that we can’t live without. Using Google’s learning algorithms, the digital assistant can execute various tasks without having to interact with it every time.

This time around, Google thought it would be a great idea “to find a way for Google Assistant to help you stay productive.” To make users’ lives easier, Google added new Assistant functionalities that let users get multiple things done with a single command.

These are called routines and can be enabled in the Assistant settings on your Android or iOS devices. The latest update introduces a new workday routine specifically designed for those who work from home.

The new workday routine will automatically remind users of all the things they need to do throughout their workdays. When the new routine is enabled, Google Assistant will regularly share the time with you throughout the day. The new workday routine feature is available in English only, while the individual Assistant actions and time block can all be customized to fit one’s schedule.

Last but not least, Google Assistant is getting a new Gentle Sleep and Wake feature that’s now rolling out to all smart lights. The new feature allows you to set a reminder to get to bed at a certain hour by saying “Hey Google, sleep my lights at 11:00 p.m.” You can even set a reminder for the lights to start brightening 30 minutes before your alarm goes off.

Google is making it easier for users to set up their personal digital assistants using Voice Match, a feature that teaches Googles Assistant to recognize a voice. With the latest update, you’ll be able to set up Voice Match to let Google Assistant prompt you to say full phrases rather than the usual hot word “Hey Google.”

It will allow Google Assistant to identify your voice with more accuracy than before. In order for that to happen, Voice Match will now ask you to say phrases like “Hey Google, play my workout playlist,” which will allow it to better identify the speaker.

Moreover, Voice Match now allows you to link up to six people to a single Google Assistant account, each receiving personalized results when using the device. That’s just one new feature that will allow Google Assistant users to fine-tune their personal digital assistant.

Google Assistant has long featured celebrity voices, but you might want to use them while you still can.

John Legend’s Google Assistant cameo first debuted in April of 2019, becoming the first celebrity to virtually lend his voice to devices all over the world. The singer’s smooth tones were a big hit among fans, and though Google said the option would be temporary, they didn’t specify a date.

Or until now, at least, because the Pixel makers just announced that it will be gone come March 23. So after just under a year, the first celebrity voice on Google Assistant will be gone. It’s a good reminder that, as Google warned from the start, these cameos are not permanent. The company also debuted a second celebrity voice from actress and producer Issa Rae back in October. Her voice is still available for now, but we assume it might be gone in six month’s time as well.

Whether you’ll miss the Legendary voice or not, the good news is that Google will still do everything it used to. Just with a more robotic voice.

Google is making Android more accessible with every major update. Google Assistant is one of the tools used by the Mountain View company to make Android users’ lives much easier. Since we’re living times where it’s impossible not to multitask, having something read to you while you’re focusing on something else is a great feat.

Audiobooks are a big thing these days, but they weren’t in the beginning. However, the birth and rise of personal digital assistants put everything under a different perspective, and Google Assistant was at the forefront of it.

Now we learn that Google Assistant can read stories posted on the web out loud on your Android smartphone. To make your phone start reading an article, simply say “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page” and you should hear Google Assistant’s voice.

But the new feature added by Google goes beyond just reading web articles. You’ll be able to adjust the reading speed and even choose from multiple voices. Google says that “the web pages are read aloud in expressive and natural voices, aiming to use the same intonation and rhythm that you’d use if you were reading it aloud yourself,” so that’s a huge plus as well.

But wait, there’s more. Google announced that its Assistant can read aloud in no less than 42 languages, so make sure that you’re using the translation menu if the article you want to be read isn’t in your native language.

The new Google Assistant text-to-speech feature should roll out to Android users starting today, but it may take a few days to reach all compatible devices.

If you’re a fan of the Google ecosystem, you might own more than one device with the Google Assistant on board. And surely there have been times when you used the hotword to open the Assistant on one device only to have it activate the digital helper on the second device as well. But there seems to be a bug that has affected Google Home and Pixel devices and some have complained about it on the Assistant Community page dating back to this past September.

To reiterate, the problem is that when saying “Ok, Google,” or “Hey, Google” it not only awakens the Assistant on one device, it also does so for the second device. And with this bug, Google Assistant will remain in “listening mode” on the second device until the owner of the device intervenes. The original post was followed up with some responses by others with the same problem. The issue also was discussed on Reddit with more than one person shocked to find the battery on their Android phone down to as low as 1% with the Assistant still listening for instructions hours after the hotword was spoken to a Google Home speaker.

“Wondering if anyone else had this experience where the Google app stays active if you say “Hey Google” and your request was answered by another Home device (i.e., you say “Hey Google,” phone and Home device both pick it up, but the request is handled by the Home device). Quite a few times, I’ve found that my phone battery is completely drained a few hours later, with the Google app being active the whole time, and I think it’s because Assistant on the phone was left hanging. I can’t be sure though, and I was wondering if this was something other people had noticed, and if there’s a solution.”-u/qdatk, Reddit

The bug doesn’t seem to be a problem every time two Assistant-enabled devices are close enough for both to hear the hotword. But you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you need the phone and the battery has been unknowingly depleted. So until Google comes up with a way to exterminate this bug, it is best to check your phone every time you activate Google Assistant on your Google Home/Nest device. You need to check especially if the phone is inside your pants pocket or sitting on a table where you might not notice that the Assistant is stuck in listening mode.

Do you cringe when Google Assistant starts verbally running off at the mouth with an answer to your question? While it might be information that you need to know, it also might be a good time for a silent response. Thankfully, Google has come up with a solution.  A new section has been added to the support page for the Google Assistant that tells users how to turn off its speech output.

Turning off the speech output will not affect the answers that you get from Google Assistant. You will see the responses on your phone, but they won’t be read out loud. To turn off the speech output of Google Assistant, touch and hold the home button on your Android device or say “OK Google” or “Hey Google.” When the Assistant box comes up from the bottom, tap on the compass icon on the bottom right of the screen. After that, tap on your profile picture or initial in the upper right corner of the display. Go to Settings > Assistant. From there, go to “Phone” and then “Voice and speech.” Tap Speech Output and a box will appear with two options. To shut Google Assistant up, select “Hands-free only.” To get the digital assistant’s voice to return, follow the above instructions again and when you get to the last box, select “On.”

Apparently, many Android users are not able to find the “Voice and speech” section on Assistant. Well, first of all, the support page was just updated today so we assume that the update is only now rolling out. We were able to find it on our Pixel 2 XL running Android 10 beta 6. We should point out that Google did not note in the support page that this is a feature limited to Android 10, so if you’re running Android 9 or even Android 8, there is no harm checking to see if you can silence Google Assistant.

Since typing in a question for the Google Assistant always results in a non-verbal response, the new feature comes into play only on inquiries that are spoken to the virtual digital helper.

Google Assistant is at the center of the Google ecosystem, which is why Google keeps giving it more and more things to do. It used to be that when you summoned Google Assistant and asked it to read your messages, you’d hear the content inside SMS texts that you received from Android Messages and Hangouts. But it wouldn’t read messages that you received from third-party apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.

According to this tipster, Assistant will now read the text messages sitting in third-party messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, GroupMe and more. Not only will the virtual digital helper read these messages to you, but it will also allow you to dictate a response to these missives. To set up your phone to do this, awaken the Assistant and say “read my messages.” You’ll have to allow the Google app to have access to your notifications. Once this is done, asking the virtual helper to read your messages will show a card that pops up containing the last text message received. Assistant will read it and include the name of the sender and the app that it came from. Google Assistant will then give you the option of dictating a response or typing one out. When your response is completed, it is immediately sent out and the text marked as read.

There is a caveat that you need to know about. A text message containing media, such as a photo, a video or audio will not be read. Instead, Google Assistant will tell you that “the message just contains an audio attachment.” Hopefully, Google plans on having Assistant read such audio attachments in the future.

This feature is apparently just rolling out now. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it to work on our Pixel 2 XL running Android 9 Pie. We kept receiving a message that said: “Something went wrong.” We will continue to try it again from time to time, and if there are any changes we will update this story.