Google announced that Google Assistant is losing 17 features that were „underutilized“ in order to streamline the assistant.
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “addition by subtraction,” you’ll understand Google’s latest move. This week, Google announced that it plans to eliminate more than a dozen features from Google Assistant in the coming weeks. Google Assistant VP Duke Dukellis explained in a blog post that the team is “prioritizing the experiences you love and investing in the underlying technology to make them even better” while axing support for “underutilized features.”
Google explains that starting on January 26, if you attempt to use any of these features, you will receive a notification letting you know that it won’t be available after a certain date.
9to5Google reports that most of the features will no longer be available as of February 26, but there are a few exceptions. For instance, Nest Hub Commute Tiles and the App Launcher are being deprecated on February 7.
In addition to removing 17 features from Google Assistant, Google is also changing how the microphone icon works in the Google app. From now on, that icon will only trigger Search results in response to your queries. You can no longer use it to complete actions.
Here’s the complete list of Google Assistant features that will soon be deprecated:
Playing and controlling audiobooks on Google Play Books with your voice.
