Your Pixel's Google Assistant is set to lose almost 20 features

Losing features that were previously available is always bad news, especially if you were a regular user of some of them. Sadly, this is what will happen soon with Google Assistant on your Pixel or Android phone, as it has been confirmed that almost 20 features will no longer be available in the coming weeks.

According to the post on Google’s official blog, the decision was made to offer a better user experience by focusing on other, more commonly used functions. That is, the company will get rid of some of the features that are least used by the public. With this move, they are seeking maximum ‘quality and reliability’ in the Assistant experience, in addition to continuing to work on multi-device options.

The change will be relatively gradual and will go through two stages: notification and implementation. First, starting January 26, when you invoke Assistant and say a command related to some of the ‘underused’ options, you will receive a notification warning you that it will be deprecated soon. You will receive the notification in question for 30 days from the aforementioned date. Then, on February 26, Google Assistant will permanently lose these features.

To try to have as little negative impact as possible on those who use some of these functions, Google has not only listed them all, but has also offered a functional alternative as a potential replacement for many.

The complete list of features that Google Assistant will lose starting February 26 is as follows:

• Playing and controlling audiobooks on Google Play Books with your voice. You can still cast audiobooks from your mobile device.
• Setting or using media alarms, music alarms, or radio alarms on Google Assistant enabled devices. You can create a custom Routine that has similar behavior or use a standard alarm.
• Accessing or managing your cookbook, transfering recipes from device to device, playing an instructional recipe video, or showing step-by-step recipes. You can use Google Assistant to search for recipes across the web and YouTube.
• Managing a stopwatch on Smart Displays and Speakers. You can still set timers and alarms.
• Using your voice to call a device or broadcast a message to your Google Family Group. You can still broadcast to devices in your home.
• Using your voice to send an email, video or audio message. You can still make calls and send text messages.
• Rescheduling an event in Google Calendar with your voice. You can still schedule a new event.
• Using App Launcher in Google Assistant driving mode on Google Maps to read and send messages, make calls, and control media. You can still use voice control on Google Maps the same way.
• Asking to schedule or hear previously scheduled Family Bell announcements. You can create a custom Routine that has similar behavior.
• Asking to meditate with Calm. You can still ask for meditation options with media providers such as YouTube.
• Voice control for activities will no longer be available on Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 devices. You’ll need to use the buttons on your device to start, stop, pause, and resume activities. You can still voice control activities on Pixel Watches.
• Viewing your sleep summaries will only be available on Google Smart Displays. You can still ask for sleep details by voice on third-party smart clocks.
• Calls made from speakers and Smart Displays will not show up with a caller ID unless you’re using Duo.
• Viewing the ambient “Commute to Work” time estimates on Smart Displays. You can still ask for commute times and get directions by voice.
• Checking personal travel itineraries by voice. You can still ask for flight status.
• Asking for information about your contacts. You can still make calls to your contacts.
• Asking to take certain actions by voice, such as send a payment, make a reservation, or post to social media. You can still ask Assistant to open your installed apps.

Finally, Google also confirmed that the function of invoking Assistant from the ‘search bar’ mic icon will no longer be available. Now, tapping on the mic icon will open ‘Voice Search’, something that had been reported as a potential bug, but was apparently an intentional change. According to Google, the reason for this change is that activating Voice Search from the mic icon is ‘its most popular use case.’

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