[Finally] Google Home now Defers to Google Assistant for Reminders, Calls, Texts and More

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The Google Home has been one of my favorite purchases in recent memory. When support for third-party integrations was announced, I was excited for the possibilities it would bring for power users like myself. While I’ve been busy tinkering away with getting my own custom voice commands, many regular users of the Google Home have felt frustrated that the home assistant service is unable to perform some fairly basic tasks such as making phone calls, sending text messages, or creating reminders.

What rubs further salt on these wounds is the fact that these basic features are available in the regular Google Assistant that’s (now) present on most Android 6.0+ devices. It would be great if you could continue using these features on your smartphone even though they’re inaccessible on the Google Home, but yet another frustrating feature of the Google Home is that it hijacked every “OK Google” voice command that you initiate when you’re in range. Until now.

On my Google Home, at least, I’ve noticed that the Google Home will now no longer answer questions that it doesn’t support, and instead defer to the Google Assistant on my phone. If I ask it a question like “what is the weather right now” my Google Home will answer, but if I ask it to make a phone call, send a text message, set a reminder, or ask if to do any other command it can’t handle (but Assistant can), Google Assistant on my phone will now handle that command.

I am not sure if this feature has rolled out to all Google Home users, but this is certainly a very welcome change. My Google Home is in my bedroom, so when I ask my Google Home to do something chances are my phone is also in range to hear my “OK Google” prompt. Thanks to this change, I now no longer have to worry that I my Google Home triggered alongside Assistant before asking it to make a phone call, text somebody, or add a reminder.