Google Assistant is a very useful tool for many people in the Android ecosystem, but it has always lacked the capability for users to search through the settings for it.
Google seems to be changing that now. It’s not necessarily widespread though. And there seems to be at least one potential requirement that has to be in place if you want the ability to search through the Google Assistant settings on your Android smartphone or tablet.
Your device may need to be on the beta version of the Google app. And not just any beta version but the most recent beta version. That being said, it showed up for us on at least one device, and that device isn’t on the Google app beta. It is however on the most recent version of the stable Google app. Which at the time of writing is version 11.40.29.
A search bar will sit at the top of the Google Assistant settings page on Android
If you open up the Google Assistant settings page on your Android device, you’ll see a search bar at the top of the page above your account icon.
Typing something in this field won’t necessarily always bring something up. For example, typing “turn on” gets no results at all. Even though that is generally the request you make of Google if you want to turn on the lights in the kitchen before you get there.
However if you type the word lights in the search field, you’ll get the settings options for managing home control devices, like smart lights, or any other type of smart home product such as thermostats, fans and more.
You’ll also get results if you type in the word play. Results that do pop up also have icons that correlate with what the actions are tied to. Such as a light bulb for home control, a music note for playing music, etc.
The routines page in Assistant settings is getting a UI tweak
Google is also updating the Routines page for the Assistant settings. This is going to be another thing that not as many users will have access to.
For most user, the Routines page should have a series of colorful icons next to each routine. Whether they’re ready-made or not. But the new design turns each icon into the same single color. And each section is placed inside of a card to make things look more uniform.
