Pixel Buds Pro ‘touch and hold’ no longer reads notifications [U]

In addition to a change with the “Hey Google” hotword, some Pixel Buds Pro owners have been prompted about the “touch and hold” gesture no longer working to read notifications.

Update 9/17: Google has confirmed that Pixel Buds “will no longer read unread notifications when using the press Assistant feature.” Additionally, Assistant will “no longer read unread notifications automatically and allow you to reply.”

In order to hear notifications, you can activate Google Assistant and say “Read my notifications.”

User feedback is cited for this change, while Google is “evaluat[ing] further changes to notifications.”

Original 9/12: There are several reports of this change, but it’s not yet fully rolled out. The touch and hold behavior on our Pixel Buds Pro continues to note the time and proceeds to go through new notifications.

Over the past few days, some people have been told by Google Assistant that “touch and hold will no longer read notifications” and that “Hey Google, read notifications” is the alternative. 

This breaks the silent use case of Pixel Buds Pro for many owners. Meanwhile, users are not being alerted to the existence of new notifications, so the command might be said in vain.

Again, this is not widely rolled out, but that message that some have received makes it seem to be an intentional change rather than a bug. This should be a server-side update.

One thing to keep in mind is the upcoming arrival of Pixel Buds Pro 2 with Gemini. “Summarize my recent important emails” was touted as an example command, while you can also “let’s talk live.”

We’ve seen work by Google to allow Gemini to read app notifications just like Assistant. It remains to be seen whether there will be feature parity, and if Gemini will be a complete replacement on headphones. On phones, you can continue to use Google Assistant, and it’s unclear whether that will be the case with Gemini.

Thanks David