Newsletter
Google Assistant will lose 17 features this month. According to the search giant, the underutilized Assistant functionalities will be going away and join Google Graveyard. This comes after Google laid off a thousand employees across various departments. The Google Assistant is now seven years old. Google aims to prioritize experiences and make it easier to use Assistant across devices.
Google is removing 17 Google Assistant features
In a blog post, Google says that users who try to access any of the 17 discontinued features from January 26 will be notified that they are no longer available. Most of them pertain to voice commands and will be removed completely by February 26 as per 9to5Google.
While using one of the deprecated features, a prompt will indicate the feature’s expiration date. The features will be taken away from smartphones and smart speaker/display devices. The search giant is working on fusing Google Assistant with Bard which is set to arrive sometime this year.
List of Google Assistant features going away and alternatives
Google has published a full list of features on the Google Assistant that are going away along with alternatives. Check the full list below:
As time goes on, we’re going to start seeing more changes and updates to Bard. It’s clear that Google is going to prioritize its generative AI chatbot while keeping production on Assistant rather tame. In any case, we don’t see the Google Assistant going away anytime soon.
Changes to the microphone icon on Google App and Pixel Launcher search bar
Apart from the list of removed features, Google is also making changes to its Google app. The microphone icon will now trigger search responses instead of using the search bar microphone to complete actions like controlling smart home devices. The Pixel Search Bar will also open the Voice Search instead of Assistant on Pixel devices.