Summary
- A change that initially affected Pixel Buds in September 2024, removing the touch-and-hold gesture for reading notifications, now seems to be rolling out to other Google Assistant-enabled earbuds and headphones.
- Instead of a simple touch-and-hold, users must now verbally activate Google Assistant and say “Read my notifications” to hear their notifications. This shift has been met with mixed reactions, with many finding the new method less convenient.
- While a new support post from Google suggests a wide rollout, the exact list of affected devices is not yet confirmed.
In the fall of 2024, September, to be precise, the Pixel Buds lost one of its key features. At the time, Google made changes to the way Google Assistant notifications were read out on the Pixel Buds, and it looks like the same changes are now making their way to earbuds and headphones with Google Assistant support.
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For those unaware, on buds like the Pixel Buds Pro, users could utilize the touch-and-hold gesture to read out notifications using the Google Assistant. This changed in September, with users now being forced to activate Google Assistant and say “Read my notifications.” Google highlighted the change in a support post at the time, and now, a new support post serves as evidence that the change is rolling out to other non-Pixel earbuds.
September’s support post was titled Google Assistant Spoken Notifications Change on Pixel Buds, while the new one is titled Google Assistant Spoken Notifications Change on Headphones. The new post essentially lays out the same information, with Pixel Buds replaced with Headphones.
We will be making changes to your Google Assistant notifications on headphones. When you press to activate your Google Assistant, it will no longer automatically read unread notifications. Assistant will also no longer read unread notifications automatically and allow you to reply.
The post goes on to thank users for their continued feedback that enables Google to improve the Google Assistant user experience, all while the change hardly feels like an improvement.
We’re still trying to confirm the full extent of this change across non-Pixel earbuds and headphones. If you own Google Assistant-supported earbuds with tap-and-hold notification functionality, we’d love to hear about your recent experience with the feature in the comments below.
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