5 tips and tricks you might not know about

With over 500 million active users, the Google Assistant is perhaps the most popular virtual assistant on the market. While Google has added dozens of unique features and capabilities to the Assistant over the past few years, many are hidden beneath the surface or just not very well known.

The wizard comes with a handy shopping list that you can share with the whole family. Even if you’re in the kitchen with your hands busy, downgrading your grocery list to a hands-free assistant can be very useful.

Whether you have your phone or a smart speaker close by, go to the Google Assistant and say “add milk and eggs to my shopping list” or “remove coffee from my shopping list”.

See also: The best shopping list apps for Android

The best thing about this feature is that the shopping list is automatically synced with your Google account. That means it can be accessed anytime by visiting your Google shopping list page – even on a desktop.

To share the list with your family or other members of your household, click the “Add collaborator” link.

Plan your smart home with time-controlled commands

Google offers many ways to turn your smart home devices on and off, from Android’s power menu shortcuts to custom routines. However, if you want to schedule or schedule operations, consider using the wizard instead.

Simply tell the assistant to “turn on the light in the living room in 15 minutes” or “turn off the air conditioning at sunset” to postpone smart home control to the future.

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You can go a step further by turning a device on or off for a set amount of time. For example, say “Turn the heater on for 30 minutes” and watch the heater turn on for exactly half an hour.

If you have a smart speaker or display, you can use the same command to schedule other actions, including sleep sounds. Try “OK Google, play white noise for 30 minutes” to prevent the tones from playing all night.

One of the coolest features of Assistant is the ability to interpret context based on what’s on your screen. If you ever come across a tweet or conversation that you need additional information about, just go to the Assistant and ask a question.

Here’s an example: I asked the Google Assistant for pricing information without specifying a product. Nevertheless, he was able to conclude that I was talking on the smartphone in the background and even led me to search for it on Amazon.

While the execution wasn’t perfect (the wizard left out the word “Pro” in my test), it’s easy to see how useful this feature can be.

Set off a routine next to your morning alarm clock

Routines provide a quick and painless way to run multiple Google Assistant commands at the same time. While you usually activate a routine via a voice command or at a specific time of day, you can also trigger one alongside your alarm.

The following screen then prompts you to set up the routine. In addition to the usual commands such as reading your calendar and the current weather conditions, you can also configure the Assistant to control smart home devices.

For example, you can schedule a custom action after the alarm goes off by adding the following command: “Turn on the coffee maker after five minutes”.

Read any website aloud

Do you love reading the news but hate scrolling through the visual clutter and other distractions online? The assistant can read almost any article on the Internet – whether from an established publication or a small blog.

To activate this feature, open an article (like this one) in a web browser. Then go to your Assistant and say “Read this article” or “Read this page”.

A second or two later, playback automatically begins playing an audiobook version of the webpage. You can now lock your phone and the Assistant will keep talking in the background. It even includes playback controls if you want to fast-forward or rewind, or refine the narrative speed.

Note: The first time you run this command, the Google app may ask you to allow the screen to be read.

Do you have a favorite Google Assistant feature you’d like to add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.