Google Assistant

Force Google Assistant to listen immediately after app launch with InstantAssistant

Siri is the default voice-based assistant on iOS devices, and while some people like using her, others prefer to use different voice assistants because of the features they offer or their superior fluidity.

Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t let you choose the default voice assistant, but a new free jailbreak tweak called InstantAssistant by gilshahar7 can help quell the pain.

Here’s what people are mainly using their smart speakers for

Smart speakers such as Amazon's Echo, Google's Home (and, soon, Apple's alleged standalone Siri device) allow users to get answers in the more comfortable settings of their homes.

As these things are always listening, there's no need to press a button or pull a phone out of your pocket. But what exactly are people using Amazon Echo and other smart speakers for?

A ComScore study, charted by Statista, says the most common use case is asking basic questions with 60 percent of US smart speaker owners using their device for simple requests, followed by weather queries (57 percent), playing music (54 percent), setting timers/alarms (41 percent), creating reminders/to-dos (39 percent) and more.

In what's bound to be disappointing to Amazon, the study found that very few users of smart speakers use them to order goods or services online, with just 8 percent of US smart speaker owners using their device to order food/services and 11 percent ordering products online.

According to a May research conducted by digital agency Stone Temple, providing answers to basic questions actually is not Alexa’s strong suit.

Amazon's digital assistant powering the Echo family of devices was able to answer just 20.7 percent of the 5,000 questions asked as part of the experiment.

Siri performed similar to Alexa.

Amazon said today that Echo owners and iOS customers who use the mobile Alexa app or the Amazon shopping app can now enable integration with iCloud Calendar.

Speaking of which, the comScore study found that less than one-third of smart speaker owners in the US (27 percent) use their device to find what's on their calendar for the day or add new appointments to the calendar hands-free.

Google Home is gaining hands-free calling, Apple Music streaming via Bluetooth & visual responses via iPhone

Google's AI-powered speaker, called Home, is getting new features announced earlier today during the keynote address at the company's annual conference for developers. Soon, Home owners will be able to stream songs from Apple Music and other apps running on their iPhone, iPad, Mac or Android device via Bluetooth.

Hands-free calling

And with hands-free calling, customers will be able ask Assistant running on the device to place calls to mobile phones or landlines in the US or Canada for free.

Even better, there’ll be no setup and no need for a phone or additional app.

Visual responses

Yet another upcoming enhancement, called visual responses, will let the smart speaker put responses to queries on a supported display, including your iPhone's.

That's right, you’ll be able to see Assistant answers on the biggest screen in your house, whether you're asking “What's on YouTube TV right now?” or “What's on my calendar today?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpnxTXILS4s

Getting visual responses from Home's Assistant on a TV will be even easier with Chromecast.

Bluetooth streaming

Google is adding Bluetooth support to let Home users enjoy more music, movies and TV shows in apps running on Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, tablets and computers, like Apple Music.

Soundcloud, Deezer and Spotify’s free music offering are coming soon to Home as well. On the video front, they've already added Netflix, and have more partners on the way like HBO NOW, CBS All Access and HGTV.

Reminders, additional countries

You can now use your Home speaker to schedule new calendar appointments and create reminders (support for adding reminders is coming soon). “Since it’s the same Google Assistant across devices, you’ll be able to get a reminder at home or on the go,” said the firm.

Google provided this brief explanation for proactive notifications:

Conversations can take place in many different ways. Sometimes your Assistant should be the one to start it—so over the next few months, we’re bringing proactive notifications to Google Home.

Google Home is currently available in a few markets, but that's about to change later this year as they expand it to new places, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.

Assistant updates

Hands-free calling, adding reminders, Bluetooth streaming and visual responses will all be enabled for Google Home users in the coming months via a free firmware update.

Google Home is powered by Google Assistant (now available as a dedicated iPhone app).

Speaking of Assistant, the AI-powered helper will be rolling out to eligible Android phones in Brazilian Portuguese, French, German and Japanese. By the end of the year, Assistant will support Italian, Korean and Spanish.

Starting today, developers can build conversational apps for the Google Assistant on phones. As a result, you’ll soon be able to not only get help and answers from Google, but also from third party services.

The company currently has 70+ smart home partners backing Assistant across Google Home, Android phones and iPhone, including August locks, TP-Link, Honeywell, Logitech and LG.

Hey Siri, make some room for Google Assistant on my iPhone

The rumors were true: the search giant Google today released a standalone Assistant app for iPhone to take on Siri. Available at no charge on App Store, it features a blend of the chat style functionality found in in the Google Allo version of Assistant and the voice-controlled version found on Android.

It even lets you call friends on Google Home or out on the town with your iPhone.

“Whether you need a reminder to pick up milk, help finding your travel photos or need to make a dinner reservation, your Assistant is ready to help,” says the company.

To get started with Assistant, press the microphone icon or start typing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ9MBYfu_0A

“And for when you want to see what you’ve previously asked, we’ll also soon add history within your conversation,” notes Google. And with an upcoming firmware update for Google Home, customers will be able to put responses to queries from Home's Assistant on a supported display, including your iPhone and even your TV (with Chromecast).

Apple users can use Assistant's chatbot-like capabilities as well as all of its interactive features without having to purchase Google's Pixel smartphone or another Android smartphone.

Here are a few things Assistant can help you with:

Make quick phone calls (“Call Mom”) Send text messages (“Text my bestie”) Send emails (“Email my boss the latest TPS report”) Set reminders (“Remind me to buy a birthday gift for Sarah”) Set calendar events (“Set a calendar event for dinner with Charlie tomorrow from 7-9”) Play music (“Play Jazz music on YouTube”) Navigate to places (“Get me directions home”) Ask it anything (“Will I need an umbrella today?”)

Google has promised to enhance Assistant with new features, including:

New chatbot abilities Integration with Google Lens technology

Google Lens will give Assistant for iPhone and Android some pretty cool camera capabilities with a little help from advanced artificial intelligence features. You'll be able to, for example, easily identify an object by pointing your phone's camera at it.

The company even demonstrated how Lens technology will permit Assistant users to snap up a photograph of a business's sign to quickly pull up useful information such as reviews, menu items, friend check-ins and other relevant data.

And in yet another example, Google demoed how Assistant could help Android users connect to a Wi-Fi network simply by taking a picture of a sticker on a router.

“If you see a marquee for your favorite band, you can hold up your Assistant, tap the Lens icon and get information on the band, tickets and more,“ said the firm.

Plus, starting today developers can build conversational apps for the Google Assistant on phones. In other words, soon you’ll be able to not only get help and answers from Google, but also from third party services.

The AI-powered helper will be rolling out to eligible Android phones in Brazilian Portuguese, French, German and Japanese, Google said. By the end of the year, Assistant will include additional language support for Italian, Korean and Spanish.

The company has more than 70 smart home partners supporting Assistant across Google Home, Android phones and iPhone, including August locks, TP-Link, Honeywell, Logitech and LG.

Assistant is already available on more than 100 million devices, said Google.

Grab Google Assistant for iOS for free via App Store.

The app requires an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 9.1 or later.

Google could launch Assistant for iOS soon as a standalone app

After unveiling Assistant at Google I/O a year ago, the search giant is now expected to bring its AI conversational helper to iPhone and iPad in the form of a standalone app, AndroidPolice reported Monday. The app should be announced at Google's annual developers conference, which kicks off on Wednesday, May 17, at Shoreline Amphitheatre Mountain View in California.

Assistant for iOS will only be available in the US at launch, said a trusted source cited in the report. Assistant's SDK  was just made available to developers so bringing the app to Apple's mobile platform could encourage more developers to integrate with its functionality.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The app would likely feature a blend of the "chat" style functionality in the Google Allo version of Assistant and the voice-controlled version found on Android, but again, details are scant.

Rather than roll out Assistant as a standalone app, Google could fold its functionality into the existing search app for iOS, which supports Google Now cards but not Assistant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsic12MXlsc

A company executive hinted two months ago that Google's general philosophy is that “we would like to have the Assistant available to as many people as possible.”

After debuting exclusively on Google's Pixel line of smartphones in October of last year, Google Assistant soon after made its way into into Google’s voice-activated speaker, called Home, the latest version of Android Wear and a few devices from third-party vendors.

It powers AI features in Google's messaging app Allo and will be at the heart of the new Android operating system for touchscreen car consoles and in-car infotainment systems.

You can expect the feature to become integrated over time into virtually every major device Google makes, as well as into its most important consumer-facing services and mobile apps.

Could Google be bringing its advanced AI-powered Assistant to iPhone and iPad?

Assistant, Google's conversational helper, debuted last year exclusively on Pixel smartphones before quickly making its way into Google's voice-activated speaker, called Home, and the latest version of Android Wear. The power of the AI-driven feature is readily apparent in Allo, the search giant's cross-platform messaging app.

As Assistant began reaching more Android devices, including third-party smartphones running Android 6.0 and Android 7.0, a Google director hinted Thursday that the technology could be coming to Apple's iPhone and iPad in the future.

Coming soon to Allo for iOS: animated emoji, revamped GIF picker, and one-tap Google Assistant

Allo, Google's cross-platform messaging app for iPhone, Android and the web which made its debut at Google I/O in March 2016, will soon receive three major enhancements. The first integrates Assistant, Google's conversational AI helper, deeper so you can access it with a single tap.

Aside from improved Assistant access, Allo will let you browse GIFs to add to your messages easier than before with a redesigned picker, plus use animated emojis in chats.

Keep in mind that these new features will be rolling out on Android starting today, and will come to iOS soon (don't worry, we'll keep you posted).

Google starts rolling out Assistant to Android Nougat and Marshmallow smartphones

LG's latest G6 flagship may have become the first non-Pixel phone to have Google's new Assistant feature, but the search giant is focused on bringing its new personal assistant to as many other smartphones as humanly possible.

Keeping true to its promise, the Mountain View firm just started rolling out Assistant to smartphones running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow versions.

With Assistant, you just long press on the Home button or say “Ok Google” to get started. The advanced feature leverages Google's knowledge graph, artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand context of your questions.

Google Allo gains Assistant voice dictation, ability to draw on images & more

Allo, Google's cross-platform smart messaging app with built-in Google Assistant, was bumped this morning to version 2.0 following its App Store debut a month ago.

Allo's built-in Assistant now supports voice dictation so you can now converse with it instead of typing. Another new feature: you can draw right on your image attachments. Google Allo 2.0 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is a free download from the App Store.