Introducing Google Assistant on iPhone

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Watch out Siri, there’s a new kid in town. Google Assistant(App Store) is competing with Siri on Apple’s own turf: the iPhone. Whether at home or on the go, your Assistant is here to help.

Virtual Assistants like Siri, and Google Assistant are only good when they’re nearby. The whole appeal of these services—someday, anyway, once they’re past the phase of only being good for setting alarms and listening to NPR—is for them to follow you around, carrying all necessary knowledge about your life and your preferences. If the speaker in your living room knows where you live and how the traffic is, but can’t tell your phone or your car, it’s not much good at all.

Google Assistant is more powerful voice assistant when you compare it to Siri. It lets you ask more complicated queries and it has third-party integrations. It also lets you control your connected devices. The app integrates with all of Google’s other tools, opening YouTube to play videos and Maps to navigate home. For a lot of users, those integrations would make Assistant almost as ubiquitous as Siri.

Google Assistant just got much better and more convenient on iOS

Google Assistant iOS app gains support for Siri shortcuts

Google is doing everything it can to make Assistant feel less like a second-class citizen on iOS. Siri is so ingrained in Apple’s platform that competing virtual assistants can’t quite match its convenience or the speed of accessing it, but Google is taking advantage of every tool at its disposal to get closer.

You can already add an Assistant widget to the left of your home screen (or lock screen). And now, Google Assistant is introducing support for Siri Shortcuts.

So you can record a phrase like the usual “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” and from then on, whenever you say that to Siri, the Assistant app will open and immediately start listening for your question or command.

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If your iPhone is unlocked, you can even access it hands-free by saying “Hey Siri” and then “Hey Google” (if that’s the phrase you pick). You can also set up Siri shortcuts for phrases you frequently use with Assistant. So you can come up with a custom voice command for a single smart home action — or even to trigger your Google Assistant smart home routines inside of Siri. Saying something like “Goodnight Google” to Siri could open Assistant and run a routine like turning off all your lights and locking the door. Pretty neat.

How to replace Siri with Google Assistant

Yes, you can replace Siri with Google Assistant and get answers to more complex questions on iPhone and iPad. Switched from an Android to iPhone to pretty recently? No matter how much you enjoy using the phone, you’ll most likely start hating Siri right off the bat. If you’re deeply tied into Google’s ecosystem and a fan of its overall smarts, then Google Assistant is the way to go. Once you’ve installed Google Assistant(App Store), let’s get started,

Create the ‘Hey Google’ Shortcut

• Launch the Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad
• Tap on the + icon in top right
• Tap on Add Action
• Search for Assistant
• Tap on Assistant under the Apps section at the top
• Under a list of actions. Tap on Hey Google
• Deselect Show When Run.
• Tap on Next at the top right-hand corner
• Name the Shortcut Hey Google, and tap Done.

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How to use this new Shortcut

For this to work properly, ensure you’ve enabled Siri on your device.

• Say ‘Hey Siri’, or press and hold the power button on your iPhone or iPad until Siri shows up.
• Now say Hey Google followed by your request and iPhone or iPad will launch the Google Assistant app and show you the results of the query. Enjoy Google Assistant.

How can Google improve accessing Google Assistant better on iOS? Let us know in the comments below.