If there is one thing frustrating about voice assistants such as Siri and Google Now, is that when you don’t have any access to the internet, they become pretty much useless. However the good news is that it appears that Google has made some updates behind the scenes because it looks like Google Now will support some offline commands.
The range of commands is a bit limited compared to if you had internet connectivity. However they are pretty basic but functional at the same time, so it’s not as if they are completely useless. For example some of these offline voice commands include the ability to control music playback, open up apps, turn on WiFi, turn on the flashlight, enable airplane mode, enable Bluetooth, and dim the screen.
Like we said, these are very basic but at the same time pretty functional, so even if your internet has been cut off, fret not because Google Now will still be there to help you out albeit in limited capacity. As it stands it seems that Google Now and Cortana are the only voice assistants on mobile devices that have some form of offline mode.
When attempting to use Siri without any form of connection, it won’t work. We’re not sure if Apple plans to including an offline mode in the future, but either way Android users can look forward to using this feature with or without an internet connection.
Filed in . Read more about Android, Google and Google Now.