Google Assistant comes to Android Messages

Over the coming few months, Google has announced to integrate Google Assistant into Android Messages. Once the feature is available, the Google Assistant will help you quickly find and share information about three categories -- movies, restaurants and weather.

A Google Assistant button will appear in the smart replies section of the Messages app. On tapping the button, it will ask the Assistant a question and if you find the information to be useful you can send it directly as a reply. The feature is limited to English as of now.

For example, if you’re chatting about a movie, you might see a suggestion chip to learn more about that film. By tapping the chip, you can ask the Assistant to pull up a card with recent movie reviews or showtimes, which you can choose to share back into your conversation with just another tap. If you don’t choose to share that information, the other person won’t see it.

However, If, you’re concerned about Google reading your messages, but that’s not the case. The only information sent to Google’s servers is the text of the Google Assistant button you tap. Those “suggestion chips” are generated by Messages app using the on-device AI.

Thus, if somebody asks if you would like to go to a restaurant, the app would reveal suggestions for a pizza emoji, “yes,” and a button that searches for the restaurant.

Ever since Google announced to shut down Allo, the search giant has been adding new features in the Messages app. Once Allo becomes non-working towards the March end, Android Messages will become the default messaging app supporting SMS, MMS, and RCS (soon in the future, depending on your carrier).

Google has been working with many of ecosystem partners, including Samsung, Huawei, America Movil, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telenor, and Vodafone to make RCS (Rich Communication Services) more widely available.

Google has launched RCS with partners in 24 countries, bringing enhanced features in your conversations like group chats, read receipts, and high quality media sharing.