New Google Assistant update makes it much less annoying

What you need to know

• Google has announced it is removing verbal responses from Assistant when controlling smart home devices.
• Instead of hearing "Ok, turning on fan," this will be replaced by "a pleasant chime."
• This update is currently limited to lights in the same room, but will be expanded "in the next few weeks."

When Google Assistant smart speakers first made their way into our homes, many of us thought it was neat to be provided with verbal confirmation. As time has gone on, this has become more of a nuisance, and it seems that Google is doing something about it. 

According to a post over at the Nest Community page, Google is rolling out an update for Assistant. With this update, you will no longer receive a verbal response after asking Google to turn off the lights. Moving forward, this is being replaced by a "pleasant chime to confirm" that the request was received.

This change comes following Google receiving feedback from the community along with "feedback from our own internal trials." Currently, the chimes will only be heard if you are trying to control lights that are in the same room. However, Google stated that this change will also be arriving for outlets, switches, TVs, speakers, fans, and blinds "in the next few weeks."

The Google Assistant and Nest team have seemingly been quite busy as of late, with a rather large update coming to the Home app. The latest update brings better compatibility with the best smart home cameras, along with slight adjustments being made to the interface for "a few different device types."

Google I/O 2023 is right around the corner when the company is expected to introduce the Pixel Tablet, which will likely double as a smart home speaker with a detachable dock. The company will undoubtedly announce plenty of updates at the event related to its smart home efforts and Matter.

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