You told us: Despite new chatbots, you're still using Google Assistant

It feels like we haven’t seen many improvements and additions to Google Assistant in recent times, especially now that the company’s Bard chatbot is available.

But are you still using Google Assistant after all this time? Have you maybe switched to an alternative? We posed this question last week, and here’s how you answered it.

Do you still use Google Assistant or other voice assistants?

Results

This poll was very popular, with almost 3,500 votes cast as of writing. And it turns out plenty of you are still using Google Assistant, with 63.7% of the vote. Reader comments suggest that Assistant is primarily used for smart home functionality, alarms, and reminders.

Interestingly, 13.86% of respondents said they’ve never used Assistant. At least a couple of comments suggest that language support is the main stumbling block here. But we’re also guessing that some of these polled readers are more comfortable with typing and traditional search functionality than speaking to a voice assistant.

The third-most popular option was “Yes, but less than before,” losing out on second place by a sliver and accounting for 13.5% of the vote. A few comments assert that Assistant has gotten worse over time, hinting at a reason why some people aren’t using it as often anymore.

Meanwhile, 7.2% of surveyed readers say they don’t use Google Assistant anymore, while 1.8% of respondents said they’ve switched to another assistant.

Comments

• Mace Moneta: I use Google Assistant mostly for reminders. I find it kind of annoying for regular use as it seems to produce not-so-useful answers lately.
• Glen M Lj: “Hey Google, wake me up at 6.” An example of when I’m too lazy or too tired to pick up my phone and set the alarm. Isn’t that convenient? So yes, voice assistant is still essential, at least to me.
• tigerberry: I played around with Assistant for a few months, but since I don’t have a smart home, and don’t live in the US or even Western Europe the functions available to me are extremely limited. I tried to use it for simple commands like “wake me up at” or “remind me of X at Y” but annoyingly it always had trouble with my accent (even though it’s not particularly thick), so the already weird feeling of talking to my phone just got really cumbersome, having to talk extra slowly and clearly.
• ShaneN: Google’s assistant started out AMAZiNGLY. But it has languished over time. Commands which once worked – mainly for smart home control – are often broken. “sorry, there’s been a glitch… Try again in a few seconds” is a refrain I hear daily. I have some 10 Google home devices throughout my home… The function which once limited response to the most likely speaker I was talking to is gone and multiple respond all at once with different (or the same) responses.
• Bayumu: I feel like Assistant has gotten dumber with time. Either I am imagining it or they stripped features from it.
• Droogs: I use Google Assistant at least once every day, and several times on some days. I think it’s great.
• Chanan Bos: I still use it all the time. Got a Google home in every room (2 are Nest Displays). But I agree it has become dumber and is sometimes insufferable. I really wish they would improve the “stop” or “shut up” commands as it activates all the time when no one asked. Cant wait for a Bard powered Google assistant. Also to have Bard in Google search and Google sheets/docs. But no, EU is apparently not getting it any time soon…. ffs
• Fredrik Seglem: It helps me remember things, and I use it to switch my lights off and on. I have it on my phone, watch, Chromebook and nest hub, nest mini-speaker etc. Google assistant is the only good bilingual voice assistant, and that from a guy that lives in a country where iphone has every spot at the top 10 best selling phone list
• cile1977: I cannot use it, it’s not available in my language.
• Myself: I (almost) never use any Digital Assistant. I speak Brazilian Portuguese and the assistants are not so good in my language. Because of that, sometimes is easier and faster to do the things yourself than asking the assistants… Plus, I think they are really clunky and robotic.