You can tell the new Google Assistant to be less chatty with its responses - Android - Canadian apps and news

You can tell the new Google Assistant to be less chatty with its responses - Android

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You can now tell Assistant to be brief with its responses, which is a long-awaited feature.

Google Assistant logo.

“Hey Google, turn on the kitchen lights,” is something you might say multiple times per day. Each time, Google Assistant might deliver you a full response: “OK, turning off the kitchen lights.” Is that really necessary?

Thankfully, Assistant’s long-winded responses to some of your queries could be a thing of the past. The “new” Google Assistant — the updated version of the AI interface that ships with the Google Pixel 4 — comes with an option to instruct Assistant to be briefer with its responses (via Android Police).

If you own a Pixel 4, you can find this new setting by visiting your Assistant’s settings. Follow these instructions:

Activate Google Assistant by swiping up from the bottom corner of your Pixel 4.
Tap the explore icon in the lower-left (a small box with three lines on top of it).
Tap on your avatar at the top right corner of the Assistant page.
Switch to the Assistant tab on the settings page.
Scroll down the Assistant tab and tap on Phone.
Tap the section that says Speech Output.

Once there you should see one of two screens. If you’re on a non-Pixel 4 device (or a Pixel 4 device that hasn’t received this server-side update yet), you’ll see the screenshot on the left. If you’re on the Pixel 4 running the latest server-side update for Google Assistant, you’ll see the image on the right:

Although we don’t have first-hand experience with this new feature (our Pixel 4 XL does not have the server-side update yet), Android Police says that it might be a bit too effective at the moment. Some of the questions AP asked received silent responses, even ones that should have had at least a little bit of a vocal response.

Google is likely still working out the kinks, hence why our Pixel 4 XL doesn’t have the update yet.

Still, this is a welcome change and will likely be a popular feature once it’s ironed out and easily available to all.