How to Use Google Assistant on Android TV

Dec. 29, 2020



There is no question thatGoogle Assistant is far better than Siri, Alexa, Bixby, and Cortanaas far as voice assistants are concerned. It has a much better voice recognition algorithm and it also responds much faster on Pixel devices due to the offline voice model. The best part is that Google has integrated its Assistant on a range of devices includingAndroid TVas well. And it works pretty well. You can play movies, check weather information, find movies by actors and directors and whatnot. But what more can it do and more importantly, what it can’t do? Well to find all the answers, let’s go ahead and find out how to useGoogle Assistanton Android TV.

Use Google Assistant on Android TV (Guide)

Use Google Assistant on Android TV (Guide)

  1. First of all, let’s begin with the most obvious command that users ask Google Assistant on Android TV. If you ask Google Assistant to “play a movie/show/trailer/video” then it will directly take you to the app where the content is available. However, it only works with certain apps such as Netflix and YouTube.

  2. If you want to be specific, you can say “play x on Netflix“.

  3. If the movie is not available on that platform then it willoffer you streamable linksfrom other services.

  4. Next, if you just saythe actor’s namethen it will show you all the movies for that particular actor and you can open it to find streamable links. Similarly, you can search for movies and shows based on directors, genres, etc.

  5. Coming to music, Gooogle Assistant on Android TV onlyworks better with Spotify. You just have to say “play my library/songs on Spotify” and it will dutifully oblige. You can even play Spotify in the background.

  6. Apart from that, you canask for weather informationlike “how is the weather out there” and it will pull your location data from your smartphone and will show you the results.

  7. You can evenask general questionsthat you ask Google Assistant on an Android smartphone. For instance, “define a word” or “how far is the moon” and more.

  8. The Google Assistant on Android TV can alsomake sounds of different animalswhich is pretty good.

  9. What I like the most is the fact that you can control a lot of TV’s controls from Google Assistant. For example, you can just say: “reduce the volume to 15%” and it will instantly follow your instructions. You can alsoperform similar operations from your Android smartphone. Just add “my tv” at the end of the command.

  10. And the best part about Google Assistant on Android TV is that it can even answer about your upcoming calendar schedule andshow your personal photos. However, you need to change a key setting from your Android smartphone. Open the Google app and move to More -> Settings -> Google Assistant -> Devices -> TV -> turn on the toggle for Personal results.

  11. Now, just say “what is next on my schedule” and there you have it.

  12. You can even ask Google Assistant toshow your photos from x placeand it will pull your images fromGoogle Photos. That’s pretty interesting, right?

  13. That said, the worst part about Google Assistant on Android TV is thatit can’t set reminders or alarmsor add anything to yourGoogle Keeplist. For instance, if you are away from your smartphone, you would want to control certain elements of your smartphone, but you can’t do that right now.

  14. While Google Assistant can openDuo on Android TVin one command: “open Duo”. However, itcan’t place video callsas of now.

The above tutorial will work with most of the popular Android TVs. You can find a list of popular Android TVs below. The list is not exhaustive by any means and is only to serve as an example.

So these are some of the major commands that work on Google Assistant running on Android TV. While I am happy with what Google has done with its voice assistant, especially the voice recognition in regional languages. However, some basic functionalities like creating reminders and alarms are not supported. We hope in the near future, we will have a full-fledged Google Assistant on Android TV.

Anyway, that is all from us. If you loved this article, don’t forget to check out our guide onremoving ads from Android TV home screento get a cleaner experience. And if you have any questions then do comment down below and let us know.

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.

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