Tag Archives: Google Nest

So you got new gear for the holidays. Now what?

The new year is here, and the holidays are (officially) over. If you were gifted a new Google gadget, that means it’s time to get your new gear out of the box and into your home or pocket.

We talked to the experts here at Google and asked for a few of their quick setup tips, so you can get straight to using your new…whatever you got...right away.

So you got a Pixel 6 Pro…

  1. Begin by setting up fingerprint unlock for quick and easy access.
  2. Prepare for future emergencies and turn on the extreme battery saver feature in the settings app. Extreme battery saver can extend your Pixel 6 Pro’s battery life by intelligently pausing apps and slowing processes, and you can preselect when you want to enable the feature — and what your priority apps are.
  3. Create a personal aesthetic with Material You, and express character by customizing wallpaper and interface designs that will give your Pixel 6 Pro’s display a more uniform look.

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More personal, more powerful: Meet Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are powered by Google Tensor, Google’s first-ever processor, and they ship with the new Android 12.

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So you got a Nest Hub Max…

  1. First, set up Face Match to ensure your Nest Hub Max can quickly identify you as the user and share a more personal experience. Then, when you walk up to the device it can do things like present your daily schedule, play your favorite playlist or suggest recommended videos, news and podcasts.
  2. Set up a Duo account for video calling and messaging with your friends and family. From there, you can ask Nest Hub Max to call anyone in your Google contacts who has Duo — just say, “Hey Google, call (your contact name).” For family members or friends who don't already have Duo, the app is free and available for download on both Android and iOS.
  3. Be sure to connect your Nest Hub Max to any other Google gear, such as the Chromecast and Nest Mini for a smart home experience.
The Nest Hub Max in front of a white background.

The Nest Hub Max.

So you got the new Nest Thermostat…

  1. Use Quick Schedule to easily and quickly get your thermostat programmed. You can go with its recommended presets or adjust the settings further to create a custom schedule. You can make changes to your schedule anytime from the Home app.
  2. Then you can opt in Home and Away Routines, which can help you avoid heating or cooling an empty house by using motion sensing and your phone’s location to know when nobody’s home and adjust the temperature accordingly to save energy.
  3. Make sure you’ve enabled notifications and Savings Finder will proactively suggest small tweaks to your schedule that you can accept from the Home app. For example, it might suggest a small change to your sleep temperature to save you energy.

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Ask a Techspert: How can we fight energy rush hours?

Our techspert explains “energy rush hours,” and what you can do to help limit them.

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So you got the new Pixel Buds A-Series…

  1. Check out the Pixel Buds A-Series’ latest feature, the bass customization option, to find your perfect sound. This addition doubles the bass range when connected to an Android 6.0 device, and can be adjusted on a scale from -1 to 4 by using the Pixel Buds App.
  2. Here’s a hardware tip: Try out the three different ear tip fit options to find the most comfortable fit for you.
  3. Start listening to your favorite podcasts and music right away by using Fast Pair to immediately connect your Pixel Buds to your phone.

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Pixel Buds A-Series: Rich sound, iconic design, just $99

The latest Pixel Buds are here, and so is a brand new color: Dark Olive.

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A new kind of “resolution” for the New Year

I love New Year’s resolutions, and because of the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, I had plenty of time to focus on them. In 2020, I decided I might as well finally train for and run a marathon…and then because, well, I still had the extra hours in 2021, I decided to try to do it again, only faster. I also resolved to give back, so I began fostering dogs (and when you already have two, trust me, it’s a challenge). My husband and I also finished remodeling our basement, turning it into a separate studio apartment.

Honestly, that’s a lot of doing. And as 2022 approaches, I think instead of using any extra time or spare motivation I have to come up with another challenge, maybe it’s time for a New Year’s non-resolution for me — a year where I focus on resting and recharging, instead of on constant doing.

I’m likely not the only one feeling this way. In 2021, search interest in “anxiety” and “therapy” reached all-time highs, as did “how to maintain mental health” and "self care ideas." And every year, “yoga” and “journaling” spike in January. In 2022, I want to do less and focus on taking care of myself, and here are a few tools I’m going to use to do that.

Rest more

2022 is going to be my year of sleep. The Nest Hub’s new Sleep Sensing will offer a better look at the quality of sleep I’m getting, and already the message I’ve received is: Get more of it. One piece of advice Sleep Sensing has given me based on my sleeping patterns is to try and get less light in my room — and I’m going to try waking up a little less abruptly by using Nest’s Gentle Wake Up feature, which slowly brightens my lights. And in stark comparison to my running goals from the past two years, in 2022 I’m going to try and run…less. Fitbit’s Daily Readiness feature tells me when it’s time for a rest day, a reminder I definitely need. (I blame running endorphins!)

Practice mindfulness

For me, mindfulness and meditation are more difficult than jumping up to physically do something. Search has a quick fix: Search “breathing exercise” and use the one-minute meditation.

Screenshot of the term "breathing exercise" in a Google Search Bar. Below, there is a video with helpful exercises for users.

Take a solo trip

I tend to over-plan trips — ask my family (there are a variety of Google Sheets dedicated to my vacations). In 2022, I’m not sure I can drop the side hustle of being my own personal travel agent, but I’m going to do the planning for a solo vacay. I like to think of myself as a Google Flights power user, and since I only have myself to think about, I only have to take my calendar into consideration when I set up a price alert for destinations I’m interested in. And I’ll use the Explore feature to select “outdoors” to narrow it down.

Maybe I’ll decide on a low key break, though and just stay home. In 2021, searches for staycation reached an all-time high — if I truly want to “do less,” maybe I’ll consider that option instead…but the year is young, so I have plenty of time to decide.

Go even greener this holiday season

I’m always looking for ways to be more sustainable. And with the holidays in full swing, when many of us (✋) are particularly overindulgent, it’s a fitting time to start eco-friendlier traditions.

Here are a few ways you can embrace more green this holiday season, with help from Google.

Take the road less wasteful

Traveling for the holidays this year? It’s easy to find more sustainable ways to get where you’re going. Google Flights now shows estimated carbon emissions for every flight. And if you’re hitting the road, Google Maps lets you choose the most fuel-efficient driving route if it’s not already the fastest one. If you also need a place to crash (other than your parents’ house), a quick Google search for hotels will show you information about their sustainability efforts.

Gif showing a flight’s carbon emissions information from a list on Google Flights.

Look up estimated carbon emissions on Google Flights.

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3 new ways to navigate more sustainably with Maps

These three Maps updates, announced at our Sustainable with Google event, will help people make greener choices when getting from A to B.

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Save (your) energy

It’s tempting to keep the living room holiday lights on all night — not only because they’re festive, but so you can avoid the tangled wires to turn them off. If you connect them to your Google Nest or Home speaker or display using a compatible smart plug, you can easily turn them off with your voice, conserving energy for both you and the planet. You can also set up a Routine so they automatically turn on and off at a specific time every day. While you’re at it, save even more energy with a Home & Away Routine for your Nest thermostat to automatically adjust the heat at different points of the day, including when you’re out of the house.

Recycle the old, in with the new

After the holidays, many of us are faced with mountains of boxes, wrapping paper and, oh yes, a tree. You may also need to make space for new gifts — like the Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro? ? — that are replacing old gadgets. By viewing Business Profiles on Google Maps and Search, you can see where to recycle or properly dispose of certain materials so they don’t end up in landfills. If you’re looking to recycle an old Google device or other electronics you're no longer using, check out our mail-in program.

Gif of mobile screen scrolling to see recycling options at “Green-r Recycle Center.”

Check out Business Profiles on Google Maps and Search to see where (and what) to recycle.

Stir up sustainably

The Food at Google team, who keeps our global offices’ kitchens running and operating sustainably, shared some tips for cooking responsibly this holiday season:

  • Get scrappy: Use scraps to make your food go further — broccoli stalks in a stir fry, stale bread for a strata, or vegetable leaves and stems for pesto, dips or chimichurri.
  • Stay in season: Research what’s in season so the foods you’re using are at peak flavor and more likely to be available locally, helping to reduce carbon emissions from packaging and shipping.
  • Save for later: Make room for leftovers in your fridge or freezer ahead of time, and read up on how to properly store foods so they last even longer.

Consider also donating any non-perishable foods you don’t use to a food bank or pantry. In the U.S., you can search for “food pantry near me” to quickly find verified locations across the country.

Read Article

Find food and give back with Google

Google is launching a number of features on Search and Maps focused on combating food insecurity.

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Winter is coming: 9 ways to enjoy it with Google

As a native Oregonian, I thought living in California would be an incredible break from the nine months of rain I’d endured growing up. What I didn’t realize was that 70-degree winters felt…wrong. Where were the mittens? The down jackets? The occasional snowy days? I’ve since moved back to the Pacific Northwest, and I’ve had a renewed appreciation for winter weather.

In fact, I enjoy the chilly months of the year so much, I’ve put together a few ways to make the most of the cold weather.

  1. I love snowshoeing, and I always want to find new trails. I use Google Maps to look for mountain biking and hiking trails that are covered in snow in the winter. (Just look for the hiking icons, or the light dash lines that indicate trails.) If I come across a good one, I label it on Maps so I know how to get back.
Animated GIF showing trails on Google Maps and how you can select and label them; this one is being saved to a list called “trails.”

2. I’m a year-round runner, but once the temperature dips below 50 Fahrenheit and the roads get wet or icy, I need new gear — all of which I can find in one place using Google Shopping. You can select the Sports & Outdoors tab to browse — and turn on the deals filter for discounts.

3. And when I’m returning from a chilly run, I can use the Google Home app to turn on my Nest Thermostat before I get home, so I know I’m not wasting energy while I’m out and the house will be toasty when I come in. I also use Home & Away Routines so that Nest knows when I’m out and can adjust my temperature automatically.

4. OK fine, there’s one downside of winter weather, and that’s how early it gets dark. I use Google Assistant to notify me an hour before sunset so I can get outside for some sunshine before the sun goes down.

5. We’ve started cutting down our own Christmas tree, which is actually pretty easy to do. A quick Google Search for cutting down a tree on federal land will help you find a map (and how you can purchase a permit). Then you can just use Google Maps to take you to the right area.

6. If I’m feeling really adventurous and ready to hit the slopes, I’ll check out the Explore tool on google.com/travel. I can set my home as the point of origin and then select “skiing” under the Interests filter and see what ski towns I can visit.

Animated GIF showing the United States on Google Maps. The arrow selects the “interests” tab and then “skiing” to surface ski towns in different parts of the country.

7. I love a good Google Alert to stay up to date on what’s going on locally. Once November rolls around, I set one for “Oregon winter festivals.”

8. Pixel cameras take incredible photos in dimly lit areas, so using Night Sight for shots of light displays or snowy nights is a no-brainer. And if you’ve already snagged a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, those photos will look even better: The new Pixel camera lets in 2.5 times as much light as the Pixel 5, and you can try out the new Motion Mode setting to capture an artsy falling snow pic.

Read Article

Take holiday photos with Night Sight in Portrait Mode

Take beautiful holiday photos with this new feature for Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5.

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9. Most winter nights, I make a real fire — but when I don’t feel like hauling in wood, there’s always a YouTube version, complete with crackle.

10 ways Google Assistant can help you during the holidays

As fun as the holidays can be, they’re also filled with lots of to-do lists, preparation and planning. Before the hustle and bustle of the season begins, we wanted to share a few ways you can use Google Assistant to stay on top of things and do what matters most — spending quality time with family and friends.

  1. Get together over a good meal made easy with hands-free help in the kitchen. Surprise your family and friends with a new dish or dessert or find inspiration by saying, “Hey Google, find me Thanksgiving recipes.”
  2. …And if you happen to come across a few new favorites, tap on that recipe and ask your Assistant to save it for you by saying “Hey Google, add to my cookbook.” Then when it comes time for a holiday feast, all your recent recipes will be waiting for you on your Smart Display and will show up when you say “Hey Google, show me my cookbook.” Once you've gathered your ingredients, select the recipe you want to cook and say “Hey Google, start cooking” to get step-by-step instructions on your Smart Display.
Illustration of a Smart Display with a recipe on the screen. There is also a photo of a warm drink with whipped cream on the screen.

3. When the food is prepared and the table is set, let everyone know dinner is ready withBroadcast. Just say, “Hey Google, broadcast ‘dinner is ready.’”

4. How early is too early for festive music? The limit does not exist! And even if you don’t have something queued up, you can just say“Hey Google, play Christmas music.”

5. Want to avoid scrolling endlessly for gifts? Android users can use Assistant to browse shopping apps like Walmart with just their voice. If you have the Walmart app installed on your Android phone, try saying“Hey Google, search Walmart for bicycles.”

6. Avoid spending hours waiting on hold when you call to adjust travel plans or return a gift. Pixel users can take advantage of Hold For Me, where Google Assistant will wait on the line for you and let you know when a real person is ready to take your call.

7. Connect and feel close from anywhere with video calling. Make a group call with Duo supporting up to 32 people on your Nest Hub Max — or send a “happy holidays!” message using one of the fun AR effects on mobile devices. To start a Duo call, just say, “Hey Google, make a video call.”

8. Keep your family’s busy holiday schedule on track with Family Bell from Google. Say “Hey Google, set up a Family Bell” to be reminded with delightful sounds on your speakers or smart displays when it’s time to tackle important moments of your day, like holiday meals or volunteering at the local gift drive. And for routines that require a little extra work — like getting the kids to bed after a get together — create a Family Bell checklist on your Smart Display with get ready bells that remind them of key tasks to complete, like brushing their teeth and putting on pajamas.

9. Have some fun and create new memories with a hands-free family game night. Put your game face on and say, “Hey Google, let’s play a game.”

10. Spark some holiday magic with a story from Google. We’ve added a new interactive story from Grabbit, a twist on the classic fairytale, “Hansel and Gretel.” Play the story from either the perspective of Hansel and Gretel or the Witch, and decide how the story unfolds. Just say “Hey Google, talk to Twisted Hansel and Gretel” and let the adventure begin! More interactive stories from Grabbit like “Jungle Book,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Sherlock Holmes” will soon be available on your Google Nest smart display devices between now and the new year.

Let Nest help you rest up for the holidays

We introduced the Nest Hub (2nd gen) earlier this year as a device that can help the millions of people looking for help with their sleep. Since then, we’ve been hard at work creating even more ways to help you get a better night's rest. Having better insights into your snoring, coughing or sleeping environment can help you make changes that improve your sleep. Its award-winning sleep technology is powered by Soli, our miniature radar sensor that helps you understand your sleeping habits - all from your bedside with no contact and no camera. 

Introducing sleep staging

Our improved algorithms mean you get even more details about your sleep. Your Nest Hub will share information about your light, deep, REM and awake periods throughout the night. The Duration and Quality screens will tell you how long you were in each stage of sleep. Combining your sleep information with disturbance events can help you better understand what’s happening while you’re sleeping.

Nest Hub showing the Sleep Sensing Duration experience

Sound detection updates

For those who share their sleeping space with others — partners or pets — now your display will only show coughs and snores that come from your calibrated sleeping area. Any coughing and snoring that happens outside of your area will appear on the new “Other sounds” timeline. This new timeline will also show other loud noises.

Get centered with meditations from Calm

Coming in December, the Google Assistant on Nest displays will give you access to Calm, a leading app for Sleep, Meditation, & Relaxation™ with a library of Sleep Stories, meditations, music and more. To try meditation content from Calm, you can either say, "Hey Google, show me meditations from Calm" or "Hey Google, start a meditation." If you have Calm Premium, you already have access to the full library. If you don’t, you can access several free tracks or sign up for an account that gives you access to Calm Premium.

Calm app experience on Nest Hub

Enjoy a preview of Sleep Sensing for free through 2022. In 2023, Google plans to integrate Sleep Sensing into Fitbit Premium (currently $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year, subject to change and may vary by country). Google and Fitbit continue to innovate within sleep and explore areas where integration with Fitbit and the Fitbit Premium subscription can provide even more helpful sleep and wellness benefits.

These new sleep features start rolling out today, and will be available to users globally over the next few weeks. These enhancements make Nest Hub the perfect gift for (or before) the holidays — what’s better than the gift of sleep?

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Daylight Saving Time tips from Google’s sleep scientist

As the days get shorter and colder, it’s getting much harder for us to step out from under our bed covers and into the dark morning. When Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend in Europe and the weekend after in North America, we’ll need to adjust ourselves even more. So, what’s the best way to deal with the new sleeping schedule?

The Nest team spoke to Dr. Logan Schneider who gave us five tips to get your winter sleep schedule ready. Originally a sleep scientist at Stanford Medicine, Logan is now the sleep expert at Google Health. He’s also the brain behind Sleep Sensing on the new Google Nest Hub, the smart screen that helps you get a better night's sleep.

Start adjusting on time… or don’t adjust at all

That extra hour of sleep this weekend can feel like jet lag for some. Soon, your sleep rhythm might make you want to go to bed earlier than usual. Logan's advice is to start preparing a few days in advance to make the transition easier for your body. Dr. Logan says: “Rather than shifting your bedtime and wake time by an hour at once, you could try shifting them over four days, so that’s by 15 minutes a day. Start two days before the clocks change, and wrap up two days after.”

The time change can be even more dreadful for kids and their parents. Dr. Logan applies the same principles to kids as above, but makes the night of the time change extra fun: “I allow my kids to wake up 15 minutes later on the Friday before the time change, and again on Saturday morning. On Saturday night, the kids get to stay up an hour later than usual. I make sure we're watching a movie in a bright light environment, because that helps push the clock a bit later. They wake up at the usual time on Sunday.”

For adults, there might be an even better way: why adjust to the new schedule at all? “You could simply take advantage of being an early bird and just stay on the earlier schedule”, Logan says. Nest Hub with Sleep Sensing can help you monitor your sleep schedule and suggest a new bedtime and wake time recommendation after the transition.

Find your perfect room temperature

People often think that a cool room (16-19˚C or 61-66˚F) is better for sleeping, but according to Dr. Logan, there is no one-size-fits-all temperature in the bedroom. He recommends finding a temperature that is comfortable for you throughout the night. An uncomfortably cold or warm bedroom can affect the quality of your REM sleep, which is an important phase of your night's rest.

Nest Hub keeps track of the average temperature at night. Did you sleep well? Great! Take note of the temperature that Nest Hub measured for you on the Sleep Quality page and make sure that your bedroom is set to that temperature from now on.

Embrace the winter cold once you wake up

We’ve all been there: the alarm goes off, your eyes won't open and the thought of walking in the cold to the bathroom makes you want to stay in bed even more. However, embracing a cold winter’s day is actually a good idea.

Dr. Logan says: “The cold can serve as a cue to your body that it’s time to wake up. So, while you may not want to leave your cozy bed, walking around on a cool floor or washing your face with cold water can be just the invigorating experience your body needs to get going in the morning.”

Never snooze again

As the saying goes: You snooze, you lose. Dr. Logan says: “When using the snooze function, not only are you delaying the inevitable, you’re also not using the extra time well. Falling back to sleep after an alarm takes time. Between each ring of the alarm you’re not getting as much sleep as you think. Your brain can spend up to half of the time falling back to sleep!”

In short, your snoozy nap isn’t really that helpful. It’s better to get up immediately when your alarm goes off.

Imitate a sunrise

Humans are naturally accustomed to waking up to sunlight. Yet, in the winter months, waking up during a dark morning might feel like waking up in the middle of the night. Light plays a key role in your sleep rhythm, says Dr. Logan: “It’s important to use light to help wake up, because your body relies on exposure to light when you’re waking up to set its internal clock for the next sleep period.”

A picture of the Nest Hub with an orange morning glow, sitting on a night stand next to a bed.

Fortunately, Nest Hub’s Sunrise Alarm can help you wake up from your deepest sleep peacefully. It gradually brightens up the screen, just like a sunrise, and then slowly increases the alarm volume. Good morning sunshine!

Happy 5th birthday, Google Assistant!

We launched Google Assistant five years ago — and back then, it sometimes felt a bit strange to ask our devices for help. Now, digital assistants are part of daily life for millions of people around the world. In fact, Google Assistant has helped answer billions of questions, send millions of messages, make millions of recipes, set billions of reminders and much more (hands-free!).

In its early days, Assistant offered just two voices, was available on Google Home speakers in the U.S. and supported English and German on Pixel phones. Now, Assistant is available in over 90 countries in nearly 30 languages, offers 10 voices to choose from and works with more than 100 million smart home devices, including lights, security systems and thermostats.

Try asking “Hey Google, Happy Birthday” or “Hey Google, how old are you?” for a timely surprise. To continue the celebration, members of the Google Assistant team share some of their favorite features and advancements from the past five years.

Supporting more complex, contextual and helpful conversations

Dave Orr, Group Product Manager, Natural Language Processing

Google Assistant brings together all the technology Google has been building for years, from the Knowledge Graph to Natural Language Processing. One of my proudest moments working on the team was when we applied BERT, the revolutionary neural transformer invented by Google in 2018, to Assistant conversations, helping Assistant understand context and longer dialogs, making conversations more natural.

Advancing and expanding AI capabilities

Lisa Huang, Group Product Manager, Duplex

A major milestone for me was when we introduced Duplex for Google Assistant three years ago — revolutionizing the ability for computers to understand and generate natural speech. It meant Assistant could make a phone call on your behalf for an appointment, find store hours or make online food orders easier. In fact, more than 600,000 reservations at restaurants and hair salons were made last month with this feature. Throughout the pandemic, Duplex made millions of calls to businesses for store hours and delivery availability, in Maps and Search.

Building a more inclusive Assistant

Beth Tsai, Director, Policy

One of the things I love most about Assistant is how intentional we’ve been about inclusivity. For example, we don’t think of Assistant as having any particular gender, which is reflected in its name. When you set up your Google Nest device, we randomly assign a voice, so you have a 50/50 chance of getting one of two voices — either the “red” voice or the “orange” voice. We don't formally designate voices as being "male" or "female," but you can think of the “red” voice as traditionally female sounding, and the “orange” voice as traditionally male sounding.

Bertrand Damiba — Group Product Manager, Language, Translation, Routines & Recommendations

I’m really proud of how our team mobilized to support and educate users around the Black Lives Matter movement through inclusive content. We also added the ability to say “Hey Google, what happened today in Black history?” and “Hey Google, what happened today in Latino history?”

Sheenam Maheshwari — Product Manager, Text-to-Speech

We’ve been working on adding Text-to-Speech voices for Google Assistant that can fluently speak and understand more than one language, even within one utterance (or code-switching) — they’ll launch in the coming days. Check out a preview of the new English-Spanish bilingual voice when you ask Assistant about Latino history. Names will even be pronounced in a more authentic Spanish accent. We’ll add support for English-Hindi and other common language pairs where code-switching often occurs later this year.

Designing a private Assistant from the ground up

Bryan Horling — Software Engineer, Privacy

A highlight from my time on the team was when we launched Guest Mode. Just say, “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode,” and your Google Assistant interactions will not be saved to your account. Another way we’re helping users manage their data is with voice actions: You can say “Hey Google, delete my last conversation” or “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week” and Assistant will delete activity from your account.

Google Assistant is built to keep your information private, safe and secure. As always, users have control over how Google Assistant handles their data and the features they choose to use. You can do things like review, delete or turn off Web and App Activity, limit audio recordings or turn off ads personalization.

Creating more secure, optional personalized experiences

Nino Tasca — Group Product Manager, Speech

It was really exciting to be the first to introduce the technology that lets users teach a digital assistant to recognize their voice with Voice Match. You can choose to train Google Assistant to recognize your, your kids’ and whoever else’s voice you share a home with so everyone gets personalized responses. We built on this with Face Match, which means your device can recognize when you walk up to it and present a personalized display, or media — like your calendar or upcoming package deliveries.

Hands-free help while driving

Effie Goenawan — Product Manager, Auto

We just launched several new Google Assistant updates for cars, and I personally love that you can say "Hey Google, pay for gas" to complete your transaction from Android Auto or from your Android phone. And starting to roll out today, you can say “Hey Google, let’s drive” to access a new dashboard for Google Assistant driving mode on your phone or automatically launch it in your car via Bluetooth.

Helping families throughout their day

Brad Abrams — Group Product Manager, Family

At the onset of the pandemic, I quickly learned my family needed help keeping on track. One of my favorite productivity features is Family Bell. I use it on my smart speakers and smart displays to remind me it’s time to make dinner, or for my kids to take a break and stretch.

Building the smart home of the future

Michele Turner — Sr. Director, Product Management, Smart Home Ecosystem

One of the most exciting milestones for me was when Google and other leading tech companies came together to develop Matter, a protocol that simplifies smart homes by using one standard across the industry.

A redesigned Assistant for the phone

Luv Kothari — Senior Product Manager, Mobile

I personally enjoy calling features like Call Screen and Hold for Me where Assistant manages tasks over the phone. And our recent breakthroughs in on-device speech processing means that more requests can happen right on your Pixel, making Assistant faster and many device-level queries like “take a selfie,” “open Chrome,” “turn on flashlight” work even without an internet connection.

Video celebrating 5 years of Google Assistant
10:25

Happy 5th birthday, Google Assistant!

We launched Google Assistant five years ago — and back then, it sometimes felt a bit strange to ask our devices for help. Now, digital assistants are part of daily life for millions of people around the world. In fact, Google Assistant has helped answer billions of questions, send millions of messages, make millions of recipes, set billions of reminders and much more (hands-free!).

In its early days, Assistant offered just two voices, was available on Google Home speakers in the U.S. and supported English and German on Pixel phones. Now, Assistant is available in over 90 countries in nearly 30 languages, offers 10 voices to choose from and works with more than 100 million smart home devices, including lights, security systems and thermostats.

Try asking “Hey Google, Happy Birthday” or “Hey Google, how old are you?” for a timely surprise. To continue the celebration, members of the Google Assistant team share some of their favorite features and advancements from the past five years.

Supporting more complex, contextual and helpful conversations

Dave Orr, Group Product Manager, Natural Language Processing

Google Assistant brings together all the technology Google has been building for years, from the Knowledge Graph to Natural Language Processing. One of my proudest moments working on the team was when we applied BERT, the revolutionary neural transformer invented by Google in 2018, to Assistant conversations, helping Assistant understand context and longer dialogs, making conversations more natural.

Advancing and expanding AI capabilities

Lisa Huang, Group Product Manager, Duplex

A major milestone for me was when we introduced Duplex for Google Assistant three years ago — revolutionizing the ability for computers to understand and generate natural speech. It meant Assistant could make a phone call on your behalf for an appointment, find store hours or make online food orders easier. In fact, more than 600,000 reservations at restaurants and hair salons were made last month with this feature. Throughout the pandemic, Duplex made millions of calls to businesses for store hours and delivery availability, in Maps and Search.

Building a more inclusive Assistant

Beth Tsai, Director, Policy

One of the things I love most about Assistant is how intentional we’ve been about inclusivity. For example, we don’t think of Assistant as having any particular gender, which is reflected in its name. When you set up your Google Nest device, we randomly assign a voice, so you have a 50/50 chance of getting one of two voices — either the “red” voice or the “orange” voice. We don't formally designate voices as being "male" or "female," but you can think of the “red” voice as traditionally female sounding, and the “orange” voice as traditionally male sounding.

Bertrand Damiba — Group Product Manager, Language, Translation, Routines & Recommendations

I’m really proud of how our team mobilized to support and educate users around the Black Lives Matter movement through inclusive content. We also added the ability to say “Hey Google, what happened today in Black history?” and “Hey Google, what happened today in Latino history?”

Sheenam Maheshwari — Product Manager, Text-to-Speech

We’ve been working on adding Text-to-Speech voices for Google Assistant that can fluently speak and understand more than one language, even within one utterance (or code-switching) — they’ll launch in the coming days. Check out a preview of the new English-Spanish bilingual voice when you ask Assistant about Latino history. Names will even be pronounced in a more authentic Spanish accent. We’ll add support for English-Hindi and other common language pairs where code-switching often occurs later this year.

Designing a private Assistant from the ground up

Bryan Horling — Software Engineer, Privacy

A highlight from my time on the team was when we launched Guest Mode. Just say, “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode,” and your Google Assistant interactions will not be saved to your account. Another way we’re helping users manage their data is with voice actions: You can say “Hey Google, delete my last conversation” or “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week” and Assistant will delete activity from your account.

Google Assistant is built to keep your information private, safe and secure. As always, users have control over how Google Assistant handles their data and the features they choose to use. You can do things like review, delete or turn off Web and App Activity, limit audio recordings or turn off ads personalization.

Creating more secure, optional personalized experiences

Nino Tasca — Group Product Manager, Speech

It was really exciting to be the first to introduce the technology that lets users teach a digital assistant to recognize their voice with Voice Match. You can choose to train Google Assistant to recognize your, your kids’ and whoever else’s voice you share a home with so everyone gets personalized responses. We built on this with Face Match, which means your device can recognize when you walk up to it and present a personalized display, or media — like your calendar or upcoming package deliveries.

Hands-free help while driving

Effie Goenawan — Product Manager, Auto

We just launched several new Google Assistant updates for cars, and I personally love that you can say "Hey Google, pay for gas" to complete your transaction from Android Auto or from your Android phone. And starting to roll out today, you can say “Hey Google, let’s drive” to access a new dashboard for Google Assistant driving mode on your phone or automatically launch it in your car via Bluetooth.

Helping families throughout their day

Brad Abrams — Group Product Manager, Family

At the onset of the pandemic, I quickly learned my family needed help keeping on track. One of my favorite productivity features is Family Bell. I use it on my smart speakers and smart displays to remind me it’s time to make dinner, or for my kids to take a break and stretch.

Building the smart home of the future

Michele Turner — Sr. Director, Product Management, Smart Home Ecosystem

One of the most exciting milestones for me was when Google and other leading tech companies came together to develop Matter, a protocol that simplifies smart homes by using one standard across the industry.

A redesigned Assistant for the phone

Luv Kothari — Senior Product Manager, Mobile

I personally enjoy calling features like Call Screen and Hold for Me where Assistant manages tasks over the phone. And our recent breakthroughs in on-device speech processing means that more requests can happen right on your Pixel, making Assistant faster and many device-level queries like “take a selfie,” “open Chrome,” “turn on flashlight” work even without an internet connection.

Video celebrating 5 years of Google Assistant
10:25

“Hey Google, tell me a girl hero story”

Today is International Day of the Girl, a chance to recognize the 1.1 billion girls who are changing the world — as well as acknowledge the challenges they face. This year’s theme is “Digital Inclusion for Girls” and to me, it means focusing on our responsibility at Google to make sure our technologies create opportunities for girls in the digital space. And that includes the ongoing work we do on Google Assistant to challenge gender stereotypes.

This effort was very personal to me – my son is five and I see him developing his views on people and differences between them every day. It matters deeply to me that he sees girls, and people from all over the world, as heroic, fierce, smart and successful.

I’m really excited that he can listen to some of the new inspiring stories of girls and women heroes available on Google Assistant. These stories focus on girls and women from diverse backgrounds, and push back against traditional tropes and focus more on problem-solving and leadership.

Just say “Hey Google, tell me a girl hero story” to select from a list of more than 25 new nonfiction and fiction stories from Capstone and The English Schoolhouse, developed by Earplay, on your Assistant-enabled phones and smart displays, like Nest Hub.

Image of the story ”Marielle's Sweet Shop” from The English Schoolhouse

Some of my favorites include “My Sister, Daisy,” which unpacks the relationship of siblings and gender identity, “Aunt Bunny” a heartwarming story highlighting the importance of community, family and friendship, and ”Marielle's Sweet Shop,” a story about a mom and daughter entrepreneur duo.

I also love learning more about personal heroes of mine through stories like “Amelia Earhart Builds a Roller Coaster' or 'Wilma Rudolph Plays Basketball."

Take a listen today, and learn more about the girls and women you think of as heroes — or maybe learn about a new one.