Google Assistant standalone iPhone app could launch as soon as Google I/O

AppleInsider

Google will soon allow iPhone and iPad owners use the search company's latest digital assistant, according to a report, with a standalone iOS app for Google Assistant claimed to be launched in the near future, possibly as part of an announcement during the Google I/O developer conference later this week.

The app will be restricted to just the United States at launch, according to sources of Android Police, and though the launch plans for the app are said to be "unclear," the announcement will apparently take place soon. It is believed Google I/O would be an ideal venue to launch the app, due to the release of the Assistant SDK to developers late last month.

A launch on iOS could be an attempt by Google to encourage developers to use the SDK and integrate their own iOS apps with Google Assistant.

Google initially launched Google Assistant, its next-generation artificial intelligence tool, as part of the Allo messaging app released last year. The "preview edition" of Assistant allowed users to interact with the messaging bot, providing responses to queries within the Allo app as part of a conversational thread.

It is likely for the standalone app to offer similar chat-based functionality to the Allo version, but could also include voice-based queries in a similar way to the existing Google search app. Due to Apple's control over the iOS architecture, users will not be able to replace Siri with Google Assistant, and will probably need to enter the app in order to perform verbal requests.

Google product management director Gummi Hafsteinsson hinted at the possibility of Google Assistant appearing on iOS in March at Mobile World Congress. While not having "anything to announce" at the time, Hafsteinsson suggested "I think the general philosophy is that we would like to have the Assistant available to as many people as possible."

Google Assistant is considered to be more advanced than the existing Google Voice Search tool, due to being able to interpret context within a conversational-style query, such as follow-up questions. For example, asking "How old is he" after the query "Who is the President of the United States" would provide the President's age in Google Assistant, whereas competitors typically treat each individual statement as a separate query.

Apple has not stood still with Siri, Google Assistant's main competition, with a string of machine learning and language processing acquisitions suggesting there could be a major upgrade to Siri coming as part of the next major iOS update. Last year, Apple opened up the digital assistant to third-party developers with the release of an SDK, enabling apps to perform actions based on Siri queries, such as payments and sending messages.

volcan

AppleInsider said:
Google Assistant is considered to be more advanced than the existing Google Voice Search tool, due to being able to interpret context within a conversational-style query, such as follow-up questions. For example, asking "How old is he" after the query "Who is the President of the United States" would provide the President's age in Google Assistant, whereas competitors typically treat each individual statement as a separate query. 

Siri can already correctly field that series of questions. Google app not so much, however it does show his picture with a really stupid looking grin and a "Show More" button on the results page that reveals his age without any follow up query.

gatorguy

volcan said:

AppleInsider said:
Google Assistant is considered to be more advanced than the existing Google Voice Search tool, due to being able to interpret context within a conversational-style query, such as follow-up questions. For example, asking "How old is he" after the query "Who is the President of the United States" would provide the President's age in Google Assistant, whereas competitors typically treat each individual statement as a separate query. 

Siri can already correctly field that series of questions. Google app not so much, however it does show his picture with a really stupid looking grin and a "Show More" button on the results page that reveals his age without any follow up query.

It's a bit more than "how old is he"
http://assistant.google.com/discover/

ericthehalfbee

No thanks.

gatorguy

ericthehalfbee said:

No thanks.

In a roundabout way you (or others really) may end up using it at some point anyway. While releasing a standalone app may not seem to make much sense considering Google Search is already available to iOS users it's all about the SDK. If Assistant can be invoked by developers no matter which platform they are developing for it's much more likely to make its way into a much wider assortment of apps. It's much less work for them and more useful too when it's available to "everyone" for the most part. The standalone version then makes sense.  

volcan

gatorguy said:

It's a bit more than "how old is he"

http://assistant.google.com/discover/

Not sure what you are referring to, but then you probably don't have Google App on an iOS device. I'm talking about the current Google App not the upcoming Assistant.

gatorguy

volcan said:

gatorguy said:

It's a bit more than "how old is he"

http://assistant.google.com/discover/

Not sure what you are referring to, but then you probably don't have Google App on an iOS device. I'm talking about the current Google App not the upcoming Assistant.

This article isn't about Google Search. Maybe that's why you were initially confused. 

volcan

gatorguy said:
This article isn't about Google Search. Maybe that's why you were initially confused. 

I was never confused. I quoted a paragraph that mentioned Google Voice Search which I don't believe is the correct name of the app, it is just Google app for iOS. The reason for my comment is that I believe the information in the article was misleading since Siri already correctly performs the follow up question task, however the author said that Assistant will perform follow up answers, where competitors need to perform two separate searches. I consider Siri to be a competitor, so I wanted to bring to light that Siri already does that. The second part of my comment was unnecessary, but I thought it was interesting and also somewhat related because Google App also performs this function today albeit by a different means by returning a much more thorough search result on the first query. Sorry I confused you.

gatorguy

Gotcha

ericthehalfbee

gatorguy said:

ericthehalfbee said:

No thanks.

In a roundabout way you (or others really) may end up using it at some point anyway. While releasing a standalone app may not seem to make much sense considering Google Search is already available to iOS users it's all about the SDK. If Assistant can be invoked by developers no matter which platform they are developing for it's much more likely to make its way into a much wider assortment of apps. It's much less work for them and more useful too when it's available to "everyone" for the most part. The standalone version then makes sense.  

Still need to launch an App to get access to the feature. Whether it's a Google App or a third party App that incorporated the SDK.

volcan

ericthehalfbee said:

Still need to launch an App to get access to the feature. Whether it's a Google App or a third party App that incorporated the SDK.

I always give Siri first shot at any search, but she doesn't always find what I'm looking for so I end up using Google app maybe 50% of the time.

macxpress

Google? No thanks! Not touching anything Google with a 200ft pole. 

Blunt

Would never use it.

watto_cobra

macxpress said:

Google? No thanks! Not touching anything Google with a 200ft pole. 

Ditto

franklinjackcon

I've been left a little underwhelmed by Assistant so far. One of the things I use voice for most is adding things to lists - shopping, hardware etc - in Keep. Add eggs to my shopping list, put toolbox on my hardware list, both work well with Google Now. The shopping list is shared with my wife, the other one opens when I arrive at the local hardware store. With Assistant, anything I add to my list, no matter which list, gets put on to some other shopping list and I can't have multiple lists. I stopped using it and I understand, even worse, they are now shifting that list into the Google Home app. So now I can't even say Ok Google, add xyz to my shopping list, I have to push the mic button on Google Now to do it.

I now have three Google tools - Assistant, Assistant in Allo, and Now - each of them working differently