At I/O 2018, Google spent a lot of time talking about the Google Assistant. One of the most interesting features announced was Continued Conversations. This was designed to allow users to continue talking to the Google Assistant without using the wake-up word each time. Basically, it lets you string string multiple commands together by saying “Hey Google” only once.
The feature started rolling out to users in the US last week. If you haven’t had the chance to test it out yourself, here’s how it works.
First off, Continued Conversation is not enabled by default, so you will need to turn it on manually from your Assistant’s settings.
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To enable the new feature, you first need to make sure your Google Assistant app is up to date. Once that’s out the way, open the app on your device and tap the Explore button located in the top right corner. Alternatively, you can open the Google Home app and select More Settings from the left menu.
How to turn on Continued Conversations in Google Assistant
- In the Explore tab, tap on the three-dot menu (Settings) located in the top right corner.
- Select Preferences
- In the Preferences screen find and tap on the Continued Conversation option
- Toggle the Continued Conversation feature to enable the setting
Once this feature is enabled, your Google Assistant will continue listening on your device for an additional 8 seconds. During this time, you can continue issuing commands or asking questions as needed. After 8 seconds, Google Assistant will stop listening and you will be required to use the wake-up word again to issue another command. However, if you want the Google Assistant to stop listening sooner, just say “thank you” or “stop”.
For example, you could ask your Assistant something like “OK, what’s the weather today?” Then you might say “What about tomorrow” and “Add an umbrella to my shopping list.” Then switch it up and ask the Assistant to “Turn on the TV”.
If you have yet to give Continued Conversations a try, you can go ahead and quickly activate the new feature by following this simple tutorial. Since it’s an opt-in feature, you can turn it off at any time in case you find it doesn’t work how you hoped it would.
