3 little-known location methods for Google Assistant on Android
Google Assistant can do some actually helpful stuff with location, if what to ask.
OpenClipart-Vectors/Google/JR Raphael
I do not know should you’ve seen, however our favourite digital helper is shedding a few of its location-sensing smarts.
Yes, oh sure: For causes unknown, Google’s within the midst of quietly pulling again Assistant’s skill to deal with reminders primarily based in your bodily location — y’know, the “remind me to do one thing after I get to this place” types of instructions which have lengthy been attainable on Android. It’s a part of a broader confusion marketing campaign realignment of Google options that appears to be putting extra emphasis on the corporate’s Tasks service and its integration with different Google apps.
Blah, blah, blah — yadda, yadda, yadda. We can yammer on all day in regards to the silliness of this shift and the comedic gold of Google’s unending flip-flop behavior. And let’s be trustworthy: We virtually actually will, one in all as of late. But not at the moment, gersh dern it.
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Today, I need to flip our focus to some little-known location options Assistant nonetheless has in its grasp — ‘trigger whereas it might be shedding that one location-related choice, Assistant nonetheless possesses some highly effective methods to work together with our whereabouts. It’s simply as much as you to comprehend they’re obtainable after which bear in mind to make use of ’em.
Ready?
Assistant location trick No. 1: The self-location spell
We’ll begin with the best command of the bunch however one that may be surprisingly useful in the proper state of affairs. Clear your throat, follow your best fancy-person voice, and say the next to your favourite Android cellphone:
Hey Google: Where am I?
It might sound just like the signal of an existential disaster, however that six-syllabled incantation will trigger your Android-dwelling Assistant to pop up an precise map together with your actual present location. You can faucet it to view it in full, slap it to place a smudge in your display screen and make your self look foolish, or utter a Keanu-like “whoaaaaa” to let Assistant know you’ve got ingested mass portions of peyote.
Assistant location trick No. 2: The on the spot sharing system
The subsequent time you end up attempting to satisfy up with a shopper, a colleague, or a camel that is camouflaged as a kindly koala, bear in mind this invaluable Assistant command:
Hey Google: Share my location.
Those 5 phrases will trigger your invisible Android companion to cough up a pair o’ contacts it thinks you may need to invite to your present spot. If they don’t seem to be the mammals you want, you’ll be able to merely say the identify of the individual with whom you need to share, offered they’re in your contacts — or you’ll be able to faucet the choice in your display screen at that second to choose one other contact manually.
Once you do, Assistant will ship a hyperlink over to the human and/or koala-masquerading camel you select, and so they’ll be capable to see your actual whereabouts with only one extra faucet of their finger/snoot.
Assistant location trick No. 3: The place-remembering genie
We’ve saved the very best for final at the moment — particularly in case your noggin is as mushy as mine is and as ineffective at remembering even essentially the most primary data.
This remaining command is supremely useful for storing a selected location in your Android cellphone’s digital brains after which serving to you get again to it at any level sooner or later. I truly had no concept it even existed up till a pair weeks in the past, when a query got here up over in our Android Intelligence Platinum Community Help Desk that impressed me to perform a little digging.
So dig this — all you’ve got gotta bear in mind are these six magic phrases:
Hey Google: Remember the place I parked.
Whether you are truly excited about parking or attempting to recollect a location for every other objective, that command will trigger Assistant to retailer your present bodily location in its huge digital banks.
And while you need to discover your approach again to it, regardless of how lengthy it has been, you’ll be able to say Hey Google: Where’s my automobile? to get an interactive map to that very same spot — or Hey Google: Navigate to my automobile to leap proper right into a step-by-step navigation.
If you’d slightly keep away from the parking-specific lingo or retailer a number of places on the identical time, you’ve got received one different distinctive choice right here — although it’s kind of extra advanced. Warm up that thirsty throat of yours and sing out the next, ideally with some over-the-top operatic aptitude:
Hey Google: Remember this location.
That’ll trigger Assistant to immediate you to present your present location a customized identify — something you’ll bear in mind (“Meatball Central,” “My Happy Spot,” “That Place Where I Met the Creepy Camel,” and so forth). And then, while you need to get again to that space once more, you’ll be able to inform Assistant to navigate to adopted by no matter particular identify you used.
And bear in mind, too: If you actually miss Assistant’s location-based reminders, you’ll be able to nonetheless make the identical factor occur by creating a brand new notice in Google Keep after which organising your reminder there. It is not fairly so simple as the spoken Assistant command technique — however hey, if there’s one little bit of comfort available right here, it is that Google will virtually actually shake issues up once more and introduce another technique for dealing with that quickly.
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