Usually when companies announce improvements to their software products through an update, this usually includes bug fixes and new features. It’s less common for companies to remove functions rather than add them.but that’s exactly what Google is doing with the Assistant.

According to the company, this is to improve the operation and performance of its intelligent virtual assistant. Search giant announced They’ll remove more than a dozen Assistant features They claim that these are some of the least used ones to deliver a better assistant experience. Some might say less is more.

Fewer features in Assistant for better performance

The most important changes in Assistant add:

• It will no longer be possible to read audiobooks from Google Play Books
• Music or radio alarms also cannot be configured on devices with Google Assistant support.
• You will not be able to use your voice to send emails or voice or video messages.
• They eliminate the functionality to reschedule or change the date of an event in Google Calendar
• Additionally, you won’t be able to ask Assistant for information about your contacts.
• You will also not be able to perform some actions with your voice, such as posting on social networks or sending payments.

Company offers alternatives and other solutions to perform the following actions: you can continue to play audiobooks from your mobile phone (in the corresponding application), you can make calls and send text messages (but not voice messages), you can create new events in Calendar and of course Assistant can still open installed apps on mobile. You can see all the changes made to the Assistant and the alternatives offered by Google on the Assistant support website.

Google says these are just some of the features and functions affected, but it doesn’t explain exactly how removing these possibilities improves the experience. But it still might be related to this Concentrate your efforts on the most used functions.

The company also changed the way Assistant is accessed from the Google app and search bar. Previously, pressing the microphone-shaped button activated Google’s virtual assistant, but now Pressing this button will start voice search Instead of launching the Assistant. According to Google, this is the most used feature.

All these changes will happen Available from next January 26th. The question we are asking ourselves is whether this is related to the integration of Google’s new AI, Bard, into the Assistant and how it will change the way the virtual assistant is used on mobile phones in the near future.

More information | Google

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