Fancy new options are fan-frickin’-tastic. But let’s face it: We aren’t all carrying shiny new telephones proper now. And we do not all have shiny new Android variations in entrance of our shiny faces this time of 12 months.That would not, nevertheless, imply we won’t benefit from the present of helpful new goodies on our favourite Googley gizmos. Android is totally brimming with buried treasures — phenomenal time-saving and productivity-boosting potentialities constructed proper into the software program on our current telephones, regardless of who made ’em or how outdated they might be (throughout the realm of purpose, anyway; should you’re nonetheless totin’ round a telephone with Froyo, sorry pal, however you are by yourself).And that is by no means extra true than throughout the area of Google Assistant — the pleasant if generally barely sassy digital companion that is all the time standing by and able to lend a serving to hand (and/or voice).Assistant could also be getting ready to a serious transformation, however for the second, at the least, it is hangin’ round on our telephones in its conventional type and ready to be referred to as into motion. And the better part about Assistant-associated gems is that they are each bit as useful with a four-year-old Moto jalopy as they’re with a high-end 2023 flagship. The solely subject is that since Assistant instructions are inherently invisible, they’re all too straightforward to miss or neglect, and loads of superior Assistant actions stay unknown and unused for the overwhelming majority of Android-adoring animals.So with out additional ado, I offer you 15 excellent Google Assistant instructions it’s best to actually keep in mind to make use of on Android — it doesn’t matter what Android telephone you are carrying or which model of Android it is working.[Want even more advanced Android knowledge? Check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks for your phone.] Google Assistant Android trick #1: The voice in your headThis first Google Assistant trick for Android is certainly one of my all-time favorites. It’s certainly one of Assistant’s most sensible and spectacular powers — and but, hardly anybody appears to understand it is accessible.Once you already know it is there, although, good golly, will you be giddy. So right here it’s: Anytime you are viewing an article inside Chrome, the Google app, or the Google News app in your Android telephone, you possibly can summon Assistant — by saying Hey Google or utilizing no matter technique you want — after which say one of many following instructions:
Read this web page
Read it
Read this
Read aloud
Or Read this please (if you wish to be extra-polite)
However you phrase it, Assistant will merrily oblige and begin studying the article on the display screen out loud to you. It’s an superior solution to compensate for Very Interesting Content™ while driving, strolling, horsey chasing, or no matter it’s you stand up to.And the expertise is definitely fairly beautiful: Just like should you have been listening to a standard podcast, you possibly can skip round within the audio and alter the playback pace by way of a bar on the backside of your display screen. You may even management the playback with a panel that’ll pop up in your notification panel anytime the audio is taking part in. JR
Assistant can learn all kinds of issues out loud for you — like storytime for adults.
The solely necessities are that you simply’re working 2014 Android 5.0 launch or larger (and should you aren’t, we have larger fish to fry) and that you’ve Assistant’s language set to English.Google Assistant Android trick #2: Power statusWondering how your telephone’s battery is doing towards the top of a protracted day? Maybe one crammed with a lot horsey chasing? No downside: Just ask your Android-dwelling Assistant What’s my battery stage, and you will have the reply in half a hoofbeat. What makes this command particularly helpful — and particularly straightforward to miss — is the truth that it’s going to additionally work from an Assistant-connected speaker or Smart Display, so even when your telephone is not proper there with you, you possibly can nonetheless ask Google how a lot energy it has left.In that occasion, simply make sure to add an additional sprint of specificity into your command, with What’s my telephone’s battery stage as your spoken request. Assistant will rattle again the precise remaining proportion, regardless of the place your telephone might bodily be.Google Assistant Android trick #3: The on the spot telephone finderNext, let’s step again a bit from there and get to an much more primary however nonetheless oft-relevant and out-of-sight possibility: When you possibly can’t discover your telephone in any respect, keep in mind the Google Assistant command Where is my telephone as your one-stop phone-finding resolution.This one works on a pair completely different ranges:
If you have got a number of Android gadgets related to the identical Google account — say, a piece telephone and a private telephone — you may give this command to any a kind of devices and have it return outcomes for the others.
No matter what number of Android gadgets you’ve got obtained in your account, you may give the command to an Assistant-connected speaker or Smart Display or perhaps a present Chromebook, as long as you are signed into the identical Google account on that system.
Whichever approach you go, Assistant will provide up the lacking telephone’s final recognized location and likewise provide to ring it for you. JR
Ask Assistant to discover a misplaced system, and also you would possibly simply handle to trace it down.
Google Assistant Android trick #4: The swift shusherAnother helpful possibility from the telephone management file is Assistant’s potential to silence your system on demand every time the necessity arises.It could appear apparent, but it surely’s straightforward to neglect: A fast uttering of Silence my telephone will trigger Assistant to show your system’s garsh-dang quantity all the way in which all the way down to keep away from any interruptions.And similar to a number of the different Assistant instructions we have talked about, the true trick with this one is that it will work each in your precise Android system and on any Assistant-connected speaker, Smart Display, or Chromebook the place you are signed into the identical account.Just keep in mind to say thanks if you’re accomplished.Google Assistant Android trick #5: Find yourselfAll proper — we have lined what to do if you cannot discover your telephone. But what when you have your telephone and but nonetheless do not know the place you might be?First issues first, strive slicing again on the peyote, pal. And if that does not work, say Where am I? to your pleasant neighborhood Assistant. That’ll trigger it to pop up a map exhibiting you your personal present location at that very second.Google Assistant Android trick #6: Find your houseIf your noodle is as mushy as mine tends to be nowadays, these subsequent Android Assistant instructions can go even additional in serving to you keep in mind essential details about location.First, asking Assistant to Remember the place I parked is a supreme superpower you should not neglect. It’s technically tied to parking, as you’ll have surmised from the phrase (you artful koala, you!) — however do not let your self be restricted by that framework. You can use the identical command to have Assistant keep in mind your present location anytime, wherever, and for any purpose after which retailer it for later retrieval.Whenever you are able to return to that spot, merely ask Where did I park? — and the reply shall seem quicker than you possibly can ask Alexa to order you almonds (since, let’s be sincere, that is largely what Alexa exists to do). You may even faucet the map Assistant pulls up for you if you need a little bit further assist navigating your approach again.Google Assistant Android trick #7: Memory magnificationLocations aren’t the one factor your telephone’s digital wizard can lend a serving to digital hand in remembering. You can ask your Android Assistant to recollect just about something, in reality — after which spout it again to you anytime down the highway.So, for example, you would possibly ask Assistant to keep in mind that the door code is 8675309 — or to keep in mind that Gertrude’s daughter is known as Gilly. Then, when you might want to recall the related data, simply ask for it:
What’s the door code?
What’s Gertrude’s daughter named?
Or, should you’d relatively:
What did I let you know in regards to the door code?
What did I let you know about Gertrude’s daughter?
JR
Assistant can act as an assistant to your defective mammal reminiscence, if you understand how to ask for that service.
And to not fear: Gertrude might be none the wiser.Google Assistant Android trick #8: Your screenshot genieAndroid permits you to snag screenshots with quite a lot of mechanisms, each on-screen and physical-button-based, however these instructions aren’t all the time handy. Sometimes, you want a screenshot saved when you do not have a hand and/or hoof free for one purpose or one other.In these moments, merely shout out to your Android Assistant after which say these magic phrases: Take screenshot. And that is it: Assistant will save a picture of no matter’s in your display screen at that second — no tapping, button-pressing, or annoyed fussing required.Google Assistant Android trick #9: The screenshot hopAside from capturing screenshots, Android’s Assistant can even now aid you get to your saved screenshots within the blink of an eye fixed.This one requires a teensy little bit of setup, however you may solely should do it as soon as:
Say Hey Google, Assistant shortcuts to zap your self into the Assistant shortcuts configuration space.
Scroll down till you see Google Photos and faucet it. (If you do not see Google Photos, go set up it, you foolish salamander.)
See the road that claims “View screenshots”? Tap the plus image subsequent to it, then faucet the road itself if you wish to customise the command that’ll name it up.
Once you’ve got accomplished that, you possibly can activate Assistant and say Show my screenshots (or no matter particular command you used a second in the past) — and, growth: You’ll be transported immediately into the screenshots part of the Google Photos app.Not dangerous, proper?!Google Assistant Android trick #10: The widget wizardHere’s a very neat one few mere mortals understand is feasible: You can name up an on-demand model of any accessible Android widget in your system just by asking Assistant to open it. So, for example:
Hey Google, present me the Google Calendar widget
Hey Google, present me the Keep widget
Hey Google, present me the Clock widget
Hey Google, present me the Google News widget
You get the thought. Whatever you ask, Assistant will present it to you proper then and there: JR
Widgets on demand, by way of Assistant on Android — who knew?!
In concept, this will work with any app that gives a widget, but it surely’s as much as every developer to allow the assist — so it may be a little bit hit or miss in actuality. But it really works pretty constantly with Google’s personal apps, at the least, after which sporadically with apps past that.And it may be a fairly useful solution to get a glimpse at related data with out interrupting what you are doing.Google Assistant Android trick #11: Snappy picture snappingTaking an image usually takes each endurance and fingers — at the least, within the conventional methods of dealing with that job. When you might want to snap a photograph in your telephone with out all the standard necessities, preserve a few of these oft-overlooked Assistant potentialities on the entrance of your bustling mind — although take word that these explicit instructions are particular to Google’s Pixel telephones and might not be accessible on all Android gadgets:
Take an image
Take a selfie
Take a video
And for the true Assistant-flexing energy, add in 10 seconds (or no matter period of time you want) to the top of any of these instructions — once more, on a Pixel. That’ll trigger Assistant to begin a countdown timer so you may have time to pose your squared-shaped head good and begin smiling all purty.Google Assistant Android trick #12: The sanity-saving noise-makerWhether you are again within the workplace and attempting to regulate to all of the office racket or working from dwelling and attempting to tune out all of that racket, Assistant has a wonderful possibility that can assist you focus.Let’s all say it collectively now: Play white noise. JR
Ahh…the soothing sounds of something however workplace chatter.
And if that ever is not slicing it for you, you’ve got obtained a bunch of different variations simply ready to be embraced:
Play enjoyable sounds
Play nature sounds
Play water sounds
Play working water sounds
Play babbling brook sounds
Play oscillating fan sounds
Play hearth sounds
Play forest sounds
Play nation evening sounds
Play ocean sounds
Play rain sounds
Play river sounds
Play thunderstorm sounds
Play thrashing demise metallic sounds*
*Not really accessible on Assistant but, however perhaps it ought to beGoogle Assistant Android trick #13: The settings shortcutAssistant’s obtained quite a lot of choices, particularly in your telephone. But, relatively satirically, attending to the Assistant settings on Android is not precisely intuitive. You’ve normally gotta undergo both the Google app or the Google Home app and wade your approach by means of a number of murky menus to seek out what you need.Well, here is the higher approach: Holler at Assistant and say Assistant settings. Bam. Problem solved, seconds saved.Google Assistant Android trick #14: Auto-repeatIf Assistant ever says one thing you did not fairly catch, strive a variation of certainly one of these little-known instructions:
Can you repeat that extra slowly?
Can you repeat that extra loudly?
I did not hear you
You may additionally all the time simply squawk out a loud “HUH?!” in your finest old-fella-asking-you-to-speak-up impression — however odds are, Assistant will not acknowledge it.Google Assistant Android trick #15: The most helpful command of allWell, my expensive, there’s dangerous information: We’ve practically reached the top of this Assistant Android assortment.But wait! There’s excellent news, too: We’ve saved one of the best for final.Assistant, y’see, is a stunning digital creature. It will be fairly useful and sometimes even nice. But it additionally has a behavior of generally butting in and responding to one thing if you did not really need its involvement.The subsequent time Assistant begins flappin’ its digital yap out of line, simply keep in mind these 4 magical phrases:That wasn’t for you.Easy, proper? Now if solely we may discover a approach for that to work on people, too.Get six full days of superior Android data with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll be taught tons of time-saving tips in your telephone!
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