Here's How To Get Rid Of "Hello Google" When Using Google Assistant

JAKARTA – Google Assistant now allows Android phone users to skip the usual 'Hey Google' greeting in some cases. Known as Quick Phrases, this capability is designed to work with phone calls and alarms, two things that are time sensitive and could benefit from a faster way of telling the phone what to do.

Here's how it works and how to enable the feature.

The Google Assistant, of course, is on most Android phones, along with some smart speakers, and smartwatches. This virtual personal helper can add reminders, provide weather updates, read news, and more.

To wake up Google Assistant, this is usually the phrase 'Ok Google' or 'Hey Google' is required. It's usually unobtrusive unless there's some brief interaction that makes it seem like a wake-up phrase being said over and over again.

With Google Assistant Quick Phrases, stopping an alarm is as easy as saying the 'stop' command, without the need to say the wake phrase first.

In the same way, answering a phone call can be done by saying 'answer', making it quicker to switch to hands-free calling without needing to wake the Assistant with 'Okay Google' or 'Hey Google.'

This feature can be enabled in Google Assistant settings although access may depend on Android and Google app versions, according to XDA-Developers.

To speed up control of phone calls and alarms with Google Assistant Quick Phrases, it must be enabled in the settings. This option can be found by opening the Settings app, typing 'Assistant' in the search field, then tapping Assistant Settings. Since the Assistant Settings list tends to be in alphabetical order, users need to scroll down to Quick Phrases.

If the option doesn't appear in the list, it's likely that the feature isn't yet available on your Android device. In the Quick Phrases section, two switches can be seen, one for alarms and timers, and one for incoming calls, both of which need to be activated for the feature to work with alarms and calls.

When a phone call comes in, saying 'Answer' or 'Reject' will trigger Google Assistant to pick up or send the caller to voicemail, according to the spoken command.

When an alarm or timer goes off, saying 'Stop' or 'Snooze' ends the sound. When you snooze an alarm, it will sound again ten minutes later, while the timer will ask you how much time to add before it goes off again.

Much of the value of interacting with Google Assistant comes from hands-free use and there are plenty of times when turning off an alarm or timer without touching the phone would be useful.

The phone call option is most useful when wearing a Bluetooth headset, making it easy to quickly answer with a single word or hang up when it's not a good time to talk. Quick Phrases make Google Assistant smarter and more useful.