How to Use Google Assistant on Your Phone

Google Assistant is Google's voice helper, the counterpart to Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. It comes built into most Android phones. And you can also install it on an iPhone from the App Store. You wake it up by saying "Hey Google" or "OK Google" or by pressing and holding the home button on older Android phones.

Google Assistant is especially good at answering questions, because it is tied directly into Google's search. Ask "How tall is Mount Everest?" and you get an instant answer read aloud. Ask "What's the traffic like to Costco?" and it tells you how long the drive will take right now. Ask "What movies are playing near me?" and it reads the list for you.

To use Google Assistant hands-free, you need to train it to recognize your voice. This takes about 2 minutes. You open the Google app, tap your picture in the top-right corner, go to Settings > Google Assistant > Hey Google & Voice Match, and say a few phrases when prompted. After that, just saying "Hey Google" wakes it up.

Like Siri, Google Assistant works best with simple, direct commands. "Call Jim." "Navigate to Walmart." "Set a timer for 20 minutes." "What's the weather this weekend?" You can string two things together — "Set a timer for 10 minutes and remind me to check the laundry" — but it is more reliable to give one command at a time.

One extra thing Google Assistant does particularly well: it can read your screen out loud. If you are on a news article and say "Hey Google, read it" — Google Assistant reads the whole page out loud. This is great for rest or for people with low vision.