Google Assistant just updated with Siri Shortcuts: “Hey Siri… Hey Google”

21 November 2018

Google apps have always taken a backseat behind Apple’s own offerings for Maps, Music, and even with Siri. Let’s face it, many people find Siri to be inferior to the Google Assistant in many aspects including voice recognition. Today’s news makes it one step easier to access Google Assistant via Siri Shortcuts.

The latest version of Google Assistant for iOS supports Apple’s Shortcuts app, which lets you program a list of tasks to perform using a vocal phrase with Siri or a shortcut that you add to a homescreen. Now, you can set the Shortcuts app to open Google Assistant with a phrase that you choose. For example, you can tell Siri “Goodnight” and it would turn set itself to Do Not Disturb mode and switch on the blue light filter.

You could program the phrase “Hey Google” as a shortcut to launch the Google Assistant app. Once launched, the Assistant app will be listening for a command right away. This means that you could actually say “Hey Siri, Hey Google”, then wait a few seconds for Assistant to open and then speak your command to Google.

It’s not the most elegant solution, but it is better than saying “Hey Siri, open Google Assistant….. Hey Google”. You can even make it more elaborate and program a phrase to access a Google Assistant Routine. We just hope Siri’s feelings don’t get hurt.

Google Assistant on App Store | Via