Google Assistant

There are a lot of useful voice-controlled apps and games on Google Assistant, including several that are useful for parents with young children. For the past few years, Google has supported read-along books on Google Assistant devices, but now most of them are gone, with Disney stories from Little Golden Books removed.

Google is optimizing the experience of using voice commands on phones by taking better advantage of the available screen. On Android, Google Assistant voice commands from the lockscreen will feature new glanceable cards.

Google’s Android Auto platform makes infotainment in your car easy, and it’s about to get a new feature. Soon, Android Auto will have games, but not the ones you’re probably thinking of.

For the past two years, it seemed that Google was on track to replace “Voice Search” on Android with Assistant. That might not be the case anymore as a more modern UI for Google Voice Search is now being tested.

Thanks to an unofficial workaround you can now enjoy the — normally — fantastic Google Assistant on your desktop PC, Mac, or Linux machine.

Have you ever wanted to use Google Assistant on your computer? Unless it’s a Chrome OS machine, you’ve probably been out of luck. Now, though, a clever developer has managed to toss together an unofficial Google Assistant client for Windows, macOS, and Linux, but it’s a bit complex.

After nearly a lengthy period of time being broken, then being officially unsupported by Google, Android Auto is getting back a useful feature. Google Assistant routines are finally working on Android Auto again.

An apparent “set up” issue with the Google Assistant today prevents users from controlling smart home devices with their voice. 

An “early preview” of Assistant Driving Mode was announced in November, and more people received it at the start of this year. The initial version is more limited than what was demonstrated almost two years ago, and Google is now surveying users about it.

After we first spotted the functionality in development back in September of last year, Google looks to be preparing a rollout of “access” roles for household members in the Google Home app.

The Google Assistant might be one of the best AI helpers out there, but along with so much knowledge comes pop culture references, memes, and even the odd surprise in the form of easter eggs.

In a quiet update to Google Assistant, a new “wellness” section has been added which prepares the ability for Assistant to show your health and fitness data on smart displays and more.

Back in November, Google announced an “early preview” of Assistant Driving Mode in the US. It has officially been “rolling out” since late last year, but most users have yet to receive it. The company today reiterated that the preview is coming.

While Google has banked on Smart Displays in recent years, there aren’t quite as many available as we would have hoped. The latest though is the cutesy Xiaomi Mi Smart Clock, which is set to go on sale in Europe for just €50.

The Google Assistant is helpful, it’s useful, and it certainly doesn’t “do nothing” in the wider sense. However, a brand-new “Do Nothing Mode” has arrived on the Google Assistant and all associated devices in India.

Assistant is one of Google’s most important products as voice cements itself as a key way to interact with technology. The personal assistant spans across all of the company’s form factors and plays an outsized role in smart homes. As the new year gets under way, let’s recap all the major features that Google Assistant and Google Home picked up in 2020.

2020 comes to a close in just a few days, ending a year unlike any other. 2021 will be a fresh start in more ways than one, and to ring in the new year, Google Assistant has a song to sing.

Over the past week, a small subset of users have not been able to access Google Assistant on any of their devices. This Assistant glitch appears to be occurring at the Google Account level, with Smart Displays and speakers being the most severely impacted devices.