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How can I start a timer from my home screen by voice without saying "Hey Google"? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I used to be able to press the microphone button on my home screen and say "Start 5-minute timer" and it would start the timer.

Now, when I do that, it does a Google search for "Start 5-minute timer".

How do I get that functionality back?

I don't want to open an app, and I don't want to use a number pad or anything to enter the number.

EDIT: Thank you! I went into the Gestures section of Settings, and now I can long-press the power button to get the desired behaviour. This might even be more convenient than tapping the mic icon!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

You can enable assistant via swiping the corner. Should be under "swipe to invoke assistant".

I'm pretty sure it's a part of them trying to uncouple the search widget from the assistant widget, since they're getting a lot of scrutiny for having the phone functionality too tied to them without options.

https://9to5google.com/2024/03/16/google-pixel-launcher-search-eu/

Willing to bet it's related to that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I think I have gesture settings turned off, lol

But now I've set it to long-pressing the power button, so thank you!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Thank you. I can't seem to get it to work, though. I've scrolled down to the bottom of every app trying every possible angle, starting position, and side to get it to work with the sensitivity at all notches...but I couldn't get it to activate once.

Thanks for pointing out that setting. Maybe I'll find something that works.