Google Assistant Now Available for iOS Devices in Europe
Apple fans in Europe can now enjoy Google Assistant without the need to own an Android phone or Google Home. The company announced that a standalone app of its virtual personal assistant is now available for download by iOS users in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
The app allows users to converse with Google's AI using their voice, which often means asking it questions or using it to interact with other smart home devices. Among the assistant's various functions are interacting with smart lighting and thermostats, sending messages, setting up reminders, handling calls, playing music via YouTube, and directing users to their home.
The iOS version of the virtual assistant does have a few features unavailable to it, mainly due to the restrictions of Apple's API which prevents it from accessing higher system functions. Some of the limitations include being unable to set up alarms or being a suitable substitute for Siri, Apple's own virtual assistant, on the home button.
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Still, Google does offer an Assistant widget that can be accessed on Apple's notification center. This is certainly the next best thing to having an assistant available at the user's beck and call anywhere in iOS.
According to the company, the app is designed to run on devices operating on iOS 9.1 or higher. This means that the app is available for the vast majority of iPhone and iPad users.
Given that the app has the huge search infrastructure of Google at its disposal, it can answer the user's queries much faster compared to other virtual assistants.
While Amazon and Apple continue to improve their own assistant offerings in the form of Alexa and Siri, respectively, trying out Google Assistant might be worth a shot, especially for those who want to get answers as fast as they can, whether it be for restaurant recommendations, weather inquiries or simply just out of curiosity.
