Google Assistant

The Google Assistant is arguably the most powerful and the outright best digital assistant on the market — of course, we would say that! As part of our Google Home Essentials series, our express aim is to help you find an array of must-have kit for your Google-powered smart home.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Even though the retail giant dropped its partnership with Google Express earlier this year, Walmart hasn’t stopped its collaboration with Google Home. Today, Walmart is announcing a new Google Assistant integration which gives users the ability to quickly order their groceries using just their voice.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google I/O 2019 is just over a month away, and we may have our first preview of something Google is going to demonstrate during the keynote. A new Chromium code change listed as being “for internal review” reveals a demo of the Google Assistant using context to recommend an action and automatically performing it in Chrome for Android.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google is giving all basketball fans the ability to tune into March Madness for free simply by asking your Smart Display, Home Hub, Google Home, or simply the Google Assistant to play the game.

Expand
Expanding
Close

If Google Podcasts is already your go-to place for consuming podcasts, you might be running into trouble with BBC. For the past week, the British media giant has been blocking its content from Google Podcasts, and Assistant by extension.

Expand
Expanding
Close

With I/O 2019 kicking off in just over a month, one of the more whimsical Assistant features announced at the last developer keynote can now be previewed. Some Google Assistant commands are now returning a reply from singer John Legend.

Expand
Expanding
Close

One of the standout features available to all Pixel phones from Made by Google 2018 is Call Screen. In light of increased spam, Google is now bringing a Call Screen beta to Canada.

Expand
Expanding
Close

One powerful feature of Google Home is the ability to make phone calls with just a quick voice command. It’s something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed on my Google Home Max, but it has always been a shame to miss out on it with third-party options. Now, Google Assistant phone calls are spreading to more speakers, including options from Insignia and Harman.

Expand
Expanding
Close

With Continued Conversation, smart speakers will leave the microphone on for a few seconds after Assistant finishes a reply so that users can ask a follow-up without repeating the hotword. Google is now bringing this feature to Smart Displays.

Expand
Expanding
Close

With the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, Google removed the ability for Voice Match to act as a password and fully unlock your phone. Google announced at CES 2019 that this new behavior would be coming to all Android devices, with the change beginning to roll out.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Assistant makes it really easy to interact with smart home devices, but Google is still working to bring that functionality to everything on the market. Recently, Google Assistant quietly added support for heaters, air fresheners, and even connected fireplaces.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Following yesterday’s MWC 2019 announcement that more phones will feature dedicated hardware buttons, Google is expanding where users can access Assistant. It will soon be available in Messages for Android, and coming to more languages in Google Maps.

Expand
Expanding
Close

In addition to dedicated hardware buttons and Messages integration, Google is improving Assistant’s international capabilities at MWC 2019. This includes additional multilingual pairings and many new features on KaiOS feature phones.

Expand
Expanding
Close