Google Assistant has been working on being able to work with multiple accounts. For a long time, this has been a weakness of the system, especially when it comes to Google Calendar. It looks like this may now change, as reported by 9to5.
This is the third piece of news regarding Google Assistant updates in September alone. First, Assistant the ‘Food Preferences‘ section received more updates. Then and in-app shortcuts feature began rolling out for Google Assistant.
9to5 found this piece of news through “APK Insight”. This meant that they decompiled the latest version of the app. This allows them to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. This does not mean that this new feature is set in stone. In the past, Google has reneged on new features that have been spotted through this method.
Multiple accounts getting Google Assistant support
When enabling the ‘Accounts’ page in Assistant settings this showed the phrase in the description that will “enable the Assistant to access data and services from your other accounts.”
There is currently the option to ‘Add a new account”. This is the only option available to users as of now.
The phrase data likely refers to emails, appointments, and reminders. Services could conceivably apply to any logged-in accounts such as streaming apps.
This feature is clearly in early development as it is not possible to get any of this up and running. Hence, we have no idea of how this may work in practice. Hopefully, as the development continues we will learn more.
It is also not clear what platform this “Accounts” page is for. This could work well for Android Phones as well as Smart Displays and speakers.
Speculation suggests that Assistant may default to your primary account for most things. However, there may be a prompt to switch with your alternate account for specific commands.
One example of this would be to switch to one’s work account. Perhaps this will utilise a verbal command but it may also just be something built into the UI.
The other obvious use of this feature would be to offer a unified view of one’s calendar. This would allow users to see all their accounts calendars synced up in one place rather than having to look at them individually.
This would make a big improvement on what is the current system. Right now you have to actively switch between accounts which is clunky especially when it comes to using your calendar for example.
This new approach would make account switching much more achievable and convenient. Hopefully, this update will come out efficiently so we do not have to wait too long for it.