Google Assistant will no longer be accessible with Pixel Launcher mic shortcut

At the beginning of this year, we covered multiple emerging reports about a potential bug, where the Pixel Launcher mic shortcut was triggering Voice Search instead of the classic Google Assistant. Later, reports from users and a Google Product Expert stated that it was a bug that had already been resolved for them. However, today there was a new and unexpected turn of events.

Although the dev team had supposedly resolved the ‘bug’, a new post on the Google blog clarifies that, in reality, it is all about intentional behavior after a recent change in Pixel Launcher mic icon behavior. More specifically, the post includes the following:

The microphone icon will now trigger Search results in response to your queries, which is its most popular use case.

So, apparently, Google found that it was more popular among users to try to access Voice Search from the Pixel Launcher mic shortcut than to invoke the Google Assistant, so they decided to change the default behavior. The company claims that the tweak is for a ‘more consistent experience within the Google app‘, and reminds users that they can continue to invoke the Assistant using the ‘Hey Google’ phrase or by holding down the ‘Power’ button.

To make sure you’re getting the best experience possible and all the new features, Google will remind you to update to the latest Google Assistant version if you’re running v12 (or older). The company also claims to be aware that these types of changes can be ‘disruptive’, but they are sure that they will help improve the experience since they were made based on ‘user feedback’.

It’s worth noting that Google Assistant will also soon lose about 20 features. If you want to know more about it (and its potential official alternatives), you can check out our dedicated coverage.

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