Google Assistant Will Now Respond to Simple 'Stop' Request
It should be a lot easier to get Google Assistant to stop talking with a new command that doesn’t require any wake words.
A recent Google Assistant update means you can silence your smart display or speaker just by saying "stop," Google tweeted—no need for "Hey, Google." This simplifies the process of getting Google Assistant to shut up if it's giving a long-winded response or was summoned accidentally.
This feature may be an early, partial rollout of Google Assistant’s Quick Phrases feature beyond the Pixel 6 series. Quick Phrases do away with the "Hey, Google" command for common queries, like setting timers, snoozing alarms, controlling smart lights, creating notes, or managing calls, 9to5Google explains.
This feature is similar to Google Assistant's Continued Conversation tool, which keeps the microphone open for follow-up commands/questions after the assistant has provided a response, without the need to repeat "Hey, Google."
The stop feature appears to be working on Google smart speakers already, Gizmodo reports, but only for responses coming from Google Assistant itself. If the assistant starts a song or video on a third-party service, for example, you need to continue saying "Hey, Google" to get it to stop.
We’ll have to see if the stop command and Quick Phrases show up on phones beyond the Pixel series. It didn't work on a Samsung Galaxy S20; Google Assistant struggled even to hear our “Hey Google” command as it rambled on about Mesopotamia.
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