Virtual Assistants are becoming a more relevant part of our day to day lives as each day passes by. They are kind of our modern-day butlers serving at our every virtual need. From finding road routes to bringing us those favorite cookie recipes, these artificial intelligence-powered ‘butlers’ come to our aid now and then. Among the popular virtual assistants is the Google Assistant which is now available on your Android mobile phones and other smart home devices. You can interact with the assistants with your voice as well as typing in your instructions via a keyboard. In this article, we present fifty useful voice commands for your Google ‘butler’. Here are the best Google Assistant Commands.
Mobile Phone Assistance
The most you are going to be using the Google Assistant is on your mobile phone. Every action on your mobile phone that can be done using a keyboard can be replaced with a voice assistant as well using the Google Assistant. Let’s see a few examples below.
Phone Calls
The voice command required to activate this facility is “OK Google, call (person)”.
eg: “OK Google, call Dad”
Text messages
The voice command required is as follows “OK Google, send a text to (person) saying (message)”
E-mails
Similar to the text message command above, the command used is “OK Google, send an email to (person) saying (message)”
Whatsapp Assistant
You will be able to even send WhatsApp messages using the Google Assistant. As of November 2019, only a few major third-party messaging apps are supported by the Google Assistant. In addition to Whatsapp, other popular messaging apps supported include Viber and Hangouts. You will also have the option to recheck your content for errors before sending them out. The voice command used for this purpose is “OK Google, send a message to [person] saying [message] via WhatsApp”
Reading text message
Just like assistance with sending messages, Google Assistant also serves to read incoming text messages. The voice command used for this purpose is “OK Google, read me the text from(person)”
Opening Apps
Step 1: Activate Google Assistant by using the voice command “Hey Google” or “OK Google”.
step 2: Use the command “Open (app)”
eg: “Hey Google, open Youtube”.
Surfing the internet
Google Assitant can also be relied up on to open any website on the interwebs in case you are too lazy to open the browser and type the address in. The command you need to use is “OK Google, open the (website)”
eg: “OK Google, open the Guardian website”.
Camera Assistant
You will have to physically point at the subject of the picture with this command and say “OK Google, take a picture/selfie”
Screenshots
The hardware shortcuts to take screenshots are often difficult and the voice commands make it easier to take screenshots. : “OK Google, take a screenshot“. This method won’t work with apps that block screenshot features.
Turn-ON/OFF WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC and Flashlight
The voice command required to activate this feature is “OK Google, turn on/off the WiFi / NFC / Bluetooth /Flashlight”
Volume/ Brightness controls
To increase or decrease brightness/volume: “OK Google, increase/decrease the brightness/volume”
To set brightness/volume: “OK Google, set the volume/brightness to (percentage)”
Work/ School Assistant
There are several ways in which Google Assistant can aid you in your office work or your schoolwork if you are a student.
Language
Google Assistant can help you with your Grammar, definitions, spellings, full form of abbreviations and acronyms, synonyms, and antonyms and even translations.
Definition: “OK Google, what does (word) mean?”
Spelling: “OK Google, spell (word)”
Antonyms/synonyms: “OK Google, what is the synonym/antonym of(word)?”
Full Forms: “OK Google, What is the full form of (acronym)?”
Translations: ” OK Google, How do I say hello in Spanish”
Math
Google Assistant can aid you with some quick maths as well. One such example is given below.
eg: “OK Google, what is the cube of 20?”
Currency and Unit
Google Assistant can also aid you with conversions of currency and measuring units from one unit to another as shown in the following examples.
Currency conversion example: “OK Google, how much is 100 USD in GBP?”
Unit conversion example: “OK Google, how many meters are there in 5 Kilometers?”
Quick Notes and Calendar entries
You will be able to note down messages quickly using the Google Assistant. The voice command required for this operation is “OK Google, add a note saying (message)”. To add an important event to the calendar, the voice command to be used is ” OK Google, add(event) to (date)“.
Home Assistant
Smart Lights
The Google Assistant can be used to turn on and off and dim the smart lights at home. The commands required are as follows.
Voice command to turn ON/OFF lights: “OK Google, turn ON/OFF lights”
Voice command to dim the lights: “OK Google, dim the lights”
Temperature regulation
Google Assistant will work in tandem with smart thermostats to control the room temperature. The command required would be: “OK Google, set the temperature to (desired degree Celcius) on the thermostat.”
Alarms
The voice command to set an alarm time on your smart device would be either of the two ways as mentioned below.
method 1: “OK Google, set an alarm for 5 AM.”
method 2: “OK Google, wake me up at 5 AM”
On the road
One of the major advantages of having a voice-assisted virtual butler is while you are on the road. Typing in instructions while driving can be a nuisance. The following are how Google assistant helps you on travels
Routes
The voice command used to get routes while driving can vary from “OK Google, show directions to (place)” to “OK Google, take me to home” in case you have set the locations with preregistered names on your map. You can also get the distance to your destination with the command “OK Google, how far is(place)”. On international travels, you will be able to check the flight status by using the command “OK Google, track (flight service name and number)”
Taxis and Hotels
You will be able to book an UBER with the command “OK Google, book an UBER to (place)”. To find nearby hotels the commands that can be used are as follows: “OK Google, find a hotel in (place) ” or “OK Google, find hotels near me”.
Weather
The voice commands that can be used to know the weather at a place are as follows.
“OK Google, what is the weather?”
“OK Google, what is the weather like in(place)”
The results brought to you by Google Assistants would be from reputed sources.
“OK Google, should I carry an Umbrella?” is another voice command that works.
Entertainment
Music
To play music, the voice command required is for example“OK Google, play Thriller on speaker/TV.” To play the music on an app of your choice, the command required is “OK Google, play Thriller on Spotify”.
To identify the name of the song or the album playing around you, you can use the voice command “OK Google, what song is this?”.
YouTube/ Netflix
To open a particular channel on YouTube, the command used is “OK Google, Open PewDiePiE on YouTube”
You will also be able to ask the Google Assistant to play a particular video by using the command “OK Google, play Frozen 2 Trailer”
You will be able to watch a movie on Netflix on your TV by using the command “OK Google, play Friends on Netflix on the TV”
Images
Google Assistant can bring you the images from your collection by using voice commands like the ones given below
“OK Google, show me pictures of my cat”
“OK Google, show me pictures I took in Ibiza”.
Google Assistant will also bring you pictures according to the time they were taken.
“Ok Google, show me pictures that I took yesterday” is one such command that works.
