If you’ve got a Pixel phone, you’ll see a little mic icon at the bottom of your screen (it’s there by default). Tap it, and you can trigger Assistant by saying “OK Google.” In fact, that’s pretty much all you need to know about it. You can also long-press on the button to get your assistant to do things like call someone or send a message.

There are some other things you can do with the button, though — if you want to use it as a shortcut for something else. For example, if you have an app that requires authentication when opening from your home screen but doesn’t need authentication when opened from within another app (like a banking app), then it makes sense to create an Always On Display shortcut for that specific app instead of using the system-wide option.

Last modified: August 18, 2022