Google Assistant

Back in August, Google redesigned preferences for Assistant to just be one long alphabetical list. The Google Assistant settings page on Android now features a very convenient search field as tweaks to the Routines interface are being tested.

In mid-November, Google appeared to settle on a compact design for Google Assistant where the activation panel is half as tall and answers don’t take up the entire screen. Google is now widely testing an Assistant design that brings the light bar to all Android phones.

Apple Music hit the scene a few years back, and in the time since, has become a huge competitor in the streaming market. Now, Google Assistant speakers are adding full support for Apple Music.

Routines make it easy to accomplish a bunch of actions with just a single keyword on Google Assistant devices. Now, though, Google is making these even more accessible by allowing Android users to put Google Assistant routines on their homescreens.

Assistant has primarily been tied to your main email account since it launched. However, most people use and have several accounts signed in on their phones. Google Assistant now better reflects that reality with multi-account information access.

Besides voice commands, the key aspect of Google Assistant headphones is having incoming notifications read aloud. Google has now brought this Assistant feature to all wired headphones, regardless of whether they’ve been optimized by the manufacturer.

The new Assistant consists of a transparent, compact UI and faster responses thanks to on-device processing. A strange bug this evening is responsible for the new Google Assistant disappearing from some Pixel 4, 4a, 4a 5G, and 5 phones.

Google Assistant is a powerful tool, but it’s only ever been available on the wrist via the company’s own Wear OS. Now, Google Assistant has arrived on Fitbit, and somewhat annoyingly, it works incredibly well.

Smart speakers and voice assistants are perhaps most useful for controlling your smart home, but in that case, it’s all about instant actions. Now, Google Assistant is adding the ability to schedule commands, certainly a handy trick!

Fitbit yesterday started rolling out Google Assistant to the Versa 3 and Sense. As part of that, users can now link their Fitbit accounts to Google Assistant for basic sleep and wellness data.

Samsung has announced that the Google Assistant is now available on Samsung’s 2020 lineup of smart TVs in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy, and is set to come to a further 12 countries by the end of the year.

The latest Fitbit smartwatches offer a lot more when it comes to hardware, but on the software, they shipped a few of those features without taking full advantage of them. Starting today, Fitbit is rolling out a new software update to Sense and Versa 3 which delivers Google Assistant, improved blood oxygen readings, and more.

As Smart Displays have matured, they’ve increasingly taken on shared and family use cases. Google is now adding a handful of new features for the Nest Hub Max and other devices, starting with sticky Family Notes.

Last May at I/O 2019, Google announced a replacement for Android Auto’s current phone screen experience. Google Assistant Driving Mode is now here as an early preview inside Google Maps.

Last July, Google started testing a redesign of Assistant that partially launched with the Pixel 4. This compact Google Assistant is now appearing for several Google app beta users in its widest — but still not complete — rollout yet.

Google’s Android Auto platform has seen some pretty big updates over the past year, and now it seems another major update is on the horizon. In Android Auto v5.8, Google is laying the groundwork for supporting wallpapers and more.