Google’s Gemini for Home Is Bringing Back Continued Conversations

Google’s helpful Continued Conversations feature is returning to Google Home speakers that are using the Gemini for Home assistant, the company announced Tuesday.

The feature makes it easier to have a back-and-forth conversation with your speaker without repeating, “Hey, Google,” multiple times. After activating the setting, your speaker will remain active for a few seconds after each response to handle any follow-up requests.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because Google Home speakers supported the feature for years under the original Google Assistant. This new version that works with the Gemini assistant is said to have better contextual responses since it can keep track of your prior conversations and support more languages. 

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Google also says the Gemini for Home assistant will be better at tuning out distracting chatter.

Google Home speakers have been providing early access to the Gemini for Home assistant over the past several months, but users have had to opt in to that program. Eventually, Gemini for Home will fully replace Google Assistant for all users, but Google has not yet provided a date for that wider rollout.

Amazon, meanwhile, continues to make updates to its voice assistant for household devices, including the launch earlier this year of the Alexa.com service that lets Alexa Plus users start a conversation on one device and continue it on a different one.