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Google accidentally spills the beans about its Guacamole feature for Assistant

By Mei Ling Tan
1 min read
Google accidentally spills the beans about its Guacamole feature for Assistant
Google accidentally spills the beans about its Guacamole feature for Assistant

A new feature for Google Assistant called “Guacamole” is coming to Android. At first, it wasn’t clear what the “guac” will add to the digital helper, we now have an idea of what this feature does. It allows users to perform “time-sensitive quick tasks” such as silencing their alarms or answering their calls without having to say “Hey Google.”

Interestingly, Guacamole appears only in version 12.5 of the Google app beta running on Android 11, not on the Android 12 Developer Preview. While Google wasn’t exactly forthcoming with information, it originally released a description about “Guacamole”: “Quickly get things done with Guacamole.”

The feature accidentally was discovered in the main Assistant settings under “Guacamole” where it says “Skip saying Hey Google” for help with quick tasks. For example, you can cancel a ringing alarm by saying “Stop,” or “Snooze.” Handling an incoming call is as easy as saying “Answer/Decline the call” without having to say “Hey Google.”

These settings were not meant to be viewed by non-Googlers.

Google was testing Guacamole internally and the Assistant menu that accompanies this story was not meant for viewing by non-Googlers. A toggle switch can be used to enable the feature under Voice shortcuts.

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