One of the Google Assistant's more annoying habits is that it usually tells you what it's doing even though you can see what it's doing. "Turning off the living room light" — I know, Google, I just asked you to and I can see it go off with my own eyes. Although it's still happening for individual actions, it doesn't seem to happen during routines any longer.

According to a commenter, the Assistant has recently become less chatty when you trigger a routine, which both Rita and I have been able to confirm with our own testing. It's not clear exactly how long this has been the case, but it may have been a little while for some lucky users. This is a real plus since our routines can end up having tons of steps and we really don't need to be told that Google is actioning each and every one.

Commands that require a spoken answer still give them, such as telling you the weather or some other information, and the new command that silences your phone also elicits a response, perhaps because it's so new. But steps like turning on/off lights, adjusting thermostats, or playing music aren't accompanied by the annoying narration they once were.

The Google Assistant may be getting more loquacious in certain situations, but we're glad to see it pipe down a little more when it comes to routines. Now, Google, please do the same for individual actions too.