One of Google’s artificial intelligence driven features, the Google Assistant, has now found its way to the iPad. With this latest development, Apple’s tablet offering officially now has a trio of other digital assistants on top of the tech giant’s own Siri feature. Those three are the aforementioned Google Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana (via the release of a version optimized for iPads last February), and Amazon’s Alexa (which happens to be the third most downloaded app among iPad users during last year’s holiday shopping season).
The iPad optimized Google Assistant mobile app is formally designated as version 1.2.4507, and comes with an interface specifically adjusted to fit the display screens of each and every iPad model out there (including the 7.9 inch screen of the iPad Mini 2, to the imposing 12.9 inch display of the iPad Pro).
Similar to how iOS mobile users open non-Siri digital assistants on their iPad devices, the Google Assistant can only be launched manually on Apple’s tablets. Also, it bears mentioning that the iPad version can not be called up from the background the same way Google Assistant can on mobile devices powered by the Android mobile operating system.
On the iPad, Google Assistant will naturally respond to “Hey, Google” commands (but users can also type in their requests), as well as come with the ability to offer answers for natural language questions, and even supply customized information based on the iPad user’s Google account. Of course, features such as current news and events, directions for driving, and weather updates are also made available.
For those who must know, the Google Assistant for iPads delivers more than a million actions, and all of them can be searched by way of an Explore button that is located on the main screen. The most notable of these actions include the ability to manage Google Home devices, and even allow the iPad to facilitate split screen multitasking capabilities (even with other mobile apps).
It was during the annual Consumer Electronics Show held back in January early this year when Google had talked extensively about how it is looking to expand Google Assistant’s reach in order to include new handsets. The digital assistant had originally made its debut together with the launch of Google’s 2016 flagship devices (the Pixel and the Pixel XL), but in subsequent months, Google Assistant has since rolled out to other Android powered phones (even on earlier models) and then to iOS devices.
