Google’s answer to Siri has some amazing hidden features.
Your Android mobile phone comes equipped with your very own personal assistant, always ready to help. Whether you’ve got questions to ask, or requests to make. Its name? Google Assistant.
But you probably already knew that. What you probably don’t know, is Google Assistant is full of secret hacks that open up new ways to play and interact with it. Here are six of our favourite to get you started.
1) Unlock Hidden Games
If you’ve got time to kill and you’re bored of scrolling mindlessly through Facebook, try this little hack. Ask Google Assistant to play a game and you may be surprised by what you find.
Google Assistant has a whole load of quizzes and puzzles built into it, which means that you have fun on tap, whenever you need some.
2) Block Swear Words
This one is totally necessary if you have kids who are likely to use your phone. With or without your permission.
To stop Google Assistant from hearing a swear word and - *gasp* - repeating it to your child, try this. Go to Settings > Voice and you should find an option along the lines of ‘Block offensive words.’ Once you enable this function, your Android phone won’t ever drop the F-bomb unexpectedly again.
3) Get the Respect You Deserve
Of course, there’s almost no point in having your own personal assistant if you can’t get it to address you as its superior.
So, if you want Google Assistant to call you ‘Master of the Universe’, or something to that effect, here’s how you do it. Go to Settings, and scroll down to your Google Assistant or personal assistant options. There you can create a nickname of your choosing; just make sure it’s not anything that would cause embarrassment in public...
4) Engage in Some Great Banter
Google Assistant isn't a service that simply provides weather updates or the latest news. Oh no. It’s actually rather entertaining. All you need to do to unlock your personal assistant’s hidden humour, by asking it to tell you a joke. Sure, the punchlines may not be as witty as Tim Vine’s, but they still provide some cheap laughs when you need them.
5) Fill Your Belly with Ease
While on previous versions of Google Assistant, you’ve had to specifically ask for restaurants in your area, the latest is way more intuitive. The moment your belly starts to rumble, all you need do is complain that your hungry, and within a moment or two, Google Assistant will have pulled up all the eateries in near your location.
6) Roll the Dice on Music Videos
Finally, here’s a less-than-useful, but still novel hack that you should try. Ask Google Assistant for a ‘random music video’ and it won't disappoint. It cleverly links up with YouTube to play you an arbitrarily chosen video in seconds. Could this be the best way to find new music? Well, no, probably not… but it’s still a cool hack to show off to your Siri-loving, iPhone-using friends.
