Google Assistant will lose 17 rarely used features. Google said these features were removed so they could focus on improving the quality of Assistant in the future.
In its announcement, Google said starting January 26 when users enable one of the features being removed, they will receive a notification saying that feature is being removed. Most of these features will be removed on February 26.
The news about the elimination of dozens of Assistant features came after Google laid off around a thousand employees in a number of divisions, including employees in the Google Assistant division.
The removed features will impact the Assistant on mobile devices, smartwatches, and smart speaker/display devices. For some features, They offers alternatives to replace the missing features. But there are some features that are omitted completely, such as integration of the Calm meditation service.
Some of the features that are removed include the option to send video emails or audio messages using voice. Assistant users will also not be able to use their voice to make payments, make reservations, or post to social media.
Google also changed the function of the microphone icon in the app and Search bar. Now users who tap the icon will only get a response in the form of search results in Search.
This means that Assistant users can no longer tap the microphone icon in the application or the Search bar to give commands such as turning on lights or sending messages, as quoted from Tech Viral, Saturday (13/1/2024).
Google says this change also applies to Pixel devices as the microphone in the Pixel’s Search bar will call up Voice Search and not Assistant. A complete list of 17 Assistant features that Google has removed can be seen on the following page.
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