We are already more than used to Siri being the iPhone’s assistant, seeing Google Assistant as a strange owner of Android mobiles. However, although Siri is not available on the Android system, we can use the Google Assistant on iOS and iPadOS .
It should be said that we will not be able to completely replace Apple’s assistant with Google’s, but many of the Siri commands can also be executed with Google’s on an iPhone. In this post we tell you how it can be easily activated so that, without having to buy an Android, you can take advantage of this artificial intelligence on your iPhone or iPad.
Download, set up and use the Google Assistant on iOS
Contrary to what happens on Android, on iPhone mobiles and iPad tablets we will not have Google Assistant installed as standard, so we will have to go to the App Store to download it . As expected, it is a completely free download and it will only take you a few seconds to wait.
Once you have the app installed on your device, you’ll need to sign in with a Google account . During the initial setup steps you will be able to choose the permissions to send you notifications, access to the location or access to the microphone. These are options that can be turned down, but make more sense to turn on to get the most out of the features.
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Once you have everything, you will access the main screen of the wizard. Here you will be able to execute commands by voice or in writing , receiving responses that will also be visual and audible. For visual purposes, you will see that it appears in the form of a chat and, despite occupying the entire screen unlike Siri, it could be more useful to consult the history of requests.
How to have the famous “Ok, Google” on the iPhone
Just as saying “Hey, Siri” is the way to invoke the iPhone and iPad assistant without having to touch the device, on Android we find that “Ok, Google” is the assistant’s activation signal. And yes, on iOS you can say it too, but only when the app is open , since being a third-party tool in the Apple ecosystem, access to continuous listening is prevented, which allows it to be activated when saying said phrase.
There are two tricks to invoke Google Assistant by voice without having the app open, although they are somewhat tedious.
However, there is a way to open the Google Assistant by voice that, although somewhat fanciful, can be useful. Just say “Hey Siri” to summon the native assistant, then “Open Google Assistant.” Once you do this, the app will open, although if you had the iPhone/iPad locked you will have to unlock it using your face or fingerprint, so it loses effectiveness.
Another option is to set up a shortcut that launches Assistant using “Ok, Google” or any other phrase you want to use. To do this you must follow these steps:
- Open the Shortcuts app.
- Click on the +button (top right).
- Type the name of the shortcut according to how you want to invoke Google Assistant (for example “Ok Google”).
- Click on Add action.
- Tap en App(then set “Open app”).
- Select Assistant.
- Tap the Xin the top right to close the shortcut.
Once you have created this shortcut, you will have to invoke Siri in the same way as we mentioned before and say out loud the name of the shortcut that you configured. You will see that in the end the action is identical, only in this case you do not have to say “open the Google Assistant app”.
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It should be said that there are other disadvantages of the iOS system, which is very jealous of privacy and means that Google Assistant is not fully integrated. See for example the command to ask you to make a call, for which you will need to touch a confirmation on the screen, unlike a Siri that only requires voice.
In any case, if you have an ecosystem of Google apps or products , you will surely be able to get a lot out of your assistant on your Apple devices. It will not be as complete as on Android, but at least it offers identical functions, unlike a Siri that cannot be used on any Android mobile.