Google Assistant is one of the most mature voice assistants we have around. And now, as per a new report by 9to5Google, users can make use of any wired headphones to use Google Assistant’s spoken notifications.
Notably, this Google Assistant AI spoken notifications feature used to work previously only with certain headphones. To be specific, it worked with 2018’s USB-C Pixel Buds, 2020 Pixel Buds, and other wireless headphones from Bose and Sony.
But that changes now as you can use any USB-C or 3.5mm headphone. Besides voice commands, one key important feature of Google Assistant is the ability to read aloud the incoming notifications.
While this could annoy when not using headphones, it comes in handy when you have a headphone plugged in your phone.
As per the source, once you enter any of your USB-C or 3.5mm headphone inside your phone, a new notification highlighting the new Google Assistant spoken notification feature.
The notification reads, “Talk to your Assistant on headphones. Just press and hold the action button on your headphones.” Furthermore, tapping on this notification brings up a setup process.
Once enabled, you’ll hear messages and other important info on your headphones
You need to grant permission to “Allow your Assistant to read your notification to you” from the Google app system settings. This will allow the assistant to read incoming notifications on your device.
Moreover, users will be asked about allowing personal results, like calendar events, etc. This is done in order to read notifications when the phone is locked and headphones connected.
Well, that’s about it for the setup process. You simply need to press and hold the “action button” on your headphones to issue voice commands.
The new change is that you need to press and hold the button for two seconds. This will result in two beeps playing. Basically, the Assistant will note the time and summarizes the number of alerts. After back it will read your notifications, starting from the latest one.
In order to confirm whether your headphone is set up properly, you can head over to the Devices list under the Google Assistant settings.
Under the “Wired headphones,” your headphone will show up under the “Personal” section. Here you can enable/disable or get help from Google at any time.
Additionally, in this section, you can also control which app works with this Google Assistant Spoken Notification feature. As of now, this feature works on a handful of Android devices with no-name headphones.
So, it seems like you can use any brand headphones for using the Google Assistant Spoken Notifications. But make sure you have the latest version of the Google app installed. However, there is clear whether this feature supports Bluetooth headsets.
