Google Now is Google’s virtual assistant, which allows you to use voice commands to perform various tasks without typing commands. The service requires installing the app in the phone, however the “Siri for Android”, as it is often called, is already present in several Samsung smartphone models. Not to be confused with Google Assistant, which offers the same functionality but in web searches and desktop version from PC, Google Now is a system in continuous evolution, whose potential is increasing every day.
What is Google Now and how it works
Google Now is the voice assistant developed by the Mountain View company, designed specifically to work with any Android device, also compatible with iPhone and iPad and Apple’s iOS operating system. The program is driven by a sophisticated artificial intelligence system, which allows Google Now to perform a large number of operations and interactions with users. The system is similar to another famous voice assistant, Siri, developed by the Cupertino company, which is why it is often referred to as the Siri for Android.
In particular, Samsung has decided to provide Google Now on several smartphones, installing it natively or offering full compatibility with its devices, both older ones and the latest generation terminals. The features of this voice assistant are really numerous, in fact Google Now is able to read the latest news, make restaurant reservations, consult bus schedules, know the weather forecast, inform about the status of an airplane flight, show notifications about sporting events and much more.
In the same way the Google voice assistant for Android can become a tourist guide, providing all the most important information about a place to visit, for example about the hours of museums, the most beautiful places to see and events scheduled for that day. You can also use Google Now to manage your agenda, organize your tasks in the Google Calendar app, find out the exchange rate of two currencies in real time, customize alerts and quickly find a route on Google Maps.
Differences between Google Now and Google Assistant
Google Now is often confused with Google Assistant, two voice assistants both developed by the American company that have some similar aspects, but they are two quite different systems. Google Now in fact represents the first generation of intelligent assistants from Google, and is designed to challenge Apple’s Siri system, competing with Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa and Samsung’s Bixby. This program works mainly on mobile devices, in fact it is available as an application for Android and iOS.
Google Assistant on the other hand is present within Google Chrome, the browser for internet browsing, was launched in 2017 and is used mainly for the desktop version from PC. Both are integrated with Google Home, the home virtual assistant that allows you to manage your Smart TV, lights and start playing movies and TV series. A special aspect of Google Now is its perfect synchronization with any mobile device, in fact, it was not designed for a specific platform, but is able to work with every smartphone and tablet on the market.
Google Assistant is able to perform the same operations as Google Now, which is why it is referred to as the new generation of voice assistants, moreover, there are many who predict an upcoming merger of the two into one system. Often the two programs work together providing users with better performance, however many devices like Samsung smartphones offer native Google Now, so those who use the virtual assistant from mobile are almost always operating with this application.
How to download and install Google Now
To use Android’s voice assistant just download the mobile application, available for free on Google Play Store, while for Apple terminals like iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch you can download it on iTunes and App Store. The app has already been downloaded by more than 5 billion users, and a new version was released in May 2019, with which the programmers have fixed some bugs found in the previous system.
After downloading and installing the app in your Android smartphone, simply open Google Now via the icon on the screen, or by entering the phone’s configurations and selecting the app, tapping the three dots to access the settings, continuing with the path Voice> Voice Match> Sign in with Voice Match. This will activate Google’s voice assistant, so just say “Ok Google” to interact with Android’s “Siri”.
How to use Google Now
Google Now allows you to use voice commands to perform a variety of tasks with your voice, without typing or touching anything inside your smartphone. Once you’ve installed the app in your Samsung smartphone, all you need to do is say “Ok Google”, to trigger the voice assistant, otherwise you can open the app and tap the microphone icon. Some commands are standard, so to perform operations you need to comply with the directions provided by Google, however the system is getting smarter and smarter, so it can understand even more elaborate phrases with a little practice.
For example, with Google Now you can see your web search history, through the command “Ok Google, show my Google search history”, change your Google account settings using the phrase “Ok Google, open Google account settings”, or change privacy-related configurations, through the phrase “Ok Google, change my Google privacy settings”. Similarly, you can perform tasks such as setting your alarm using commands similar to these.
In particular, you just need to say “Ok Google, set your alarm for 7 o’clock”, or “Ok Google, set your alarm every Thursday morning at 7 o’clock”, to receive a fixed alarm every Thursday of the week. You can also set an event in Google Calendar, by issuing the command “Og Google, create an event in the calendar, dinner in Rome on Friday at 8pm”. Instead to check the commitments recorded in the agenda you just need to say “Ok Google, what commitments I have tomorrow?”, or “Ok Google, when is the next commitment?”
The options available are really countless, in fact you can ask Google Now curiosity, “Ok Google, where was Isaac Newton born?
The available options are really countless, in fact you can ask Google Now curiosities, “Ok Google, where was Isaac Newton born?”, weather forecast, “Ok Google, what is the weather tomorrow?”, translate foreign words, “Ok Google, how do you say take in English?”, perform mathematical operations, “Ok Google, what is the square root of 289?”
Apps that work with Google Now
Google Now can interact with other applications, simply by activating the apps or by performing real operations, starting the playback of a song, a video, or finding products on sale of which you want to know the price. Among the apps that are compatible with Google Now are TripAdvisor, Shazam, Telegram, WhatsApp and NPR One, but the list is constantly being updated, so it’s advisable to check on Google’s official guide.
For example, you can send a message with WhatsApp, using the voice command “Ok Google, send a WhatsApp to Daniele”, locate a song with Shazam via the phrase, “Ok Google, find this song on Shazam”, or know the places to see in a city, saying “Ok Google, show attractions near me on TripAdvisor”. You can also send a message via Telegram, just tell the voice assistant “Ok Google, send a Telegram message to Marco”.
How to disable Google Now
As we have seen several Samsung smartphones offer Google Now as the default virtual assistant, also the system is present in many other mobile devices, otherwise just download the app and proceed to install it manually. Anyway, you can also disable Google Now, for example to switch to another voice assistant, such as Bixby or Cortana, to speed up your phone’s performance, or because after a trial period you decided to do without it, finding it annoying.
Uninstalling Google Now from your smartphone is quite simple, in fact just go into your phone’s settings, access the application management section, tap the gear icon and continue with Default apps > Assistance and voice input > Assistance apps > None. You can also disable only the Google Now tabs, to delete the information present in the app, you need to access the app settings, opt for Your feed and put the selector to OFF.
Alternatively, you can perform a data wipe, deleting the Google Assistant activities from each device. In this case you have to perform the operation through your Google account, so that any terminal connected to the account, after deactivating Google Now, no longer retains any information. You just need to access the main screen of your personal Google account, tap the three dots in the top right corner to open the settings, select Delete activity by > Delete by date > Always > Delete.
Otherwise, you can delete only the conversations made by your smartphone, as each Google voice assistant keeps a history of at least 30 days. To delete Google Now activities on an Android device, just tap the app icon, or say “Ok Google”, find the conversation you want to remove, hold it for a few seconds, scroll through the related items and select the Delete Group option. The same procedure can be done from the Google account as well, however you have to consider that the deleted data will be lost forever, in fact you cannot recover the deleted information from Google Now.