One of the key selling points of Google’s new Pixel handsets is that they come with the company’s next-generation virtual assistant and successor to Google Now, Google Assistant. While Google has made it abundantly clear that Assistant will not be coming to existing Nexus devices, the developers over at XDA did not particularly take well to this news.
The developers took things into their hands and even before the Pixel has hit the retail stores, Google’s Assistant is up and working on the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, and the Pixel C. And it’s not just limited to these devices. If you are already running a Nougat based custom ROM on your Android device, the steps below will work on your device as well.
Pre-requisites
Before you jump over to the steps below, note that your Nexus or Android device must already be running the very latest build of Android 7.0 Nougat (NBD90X). It should also be rooted with a custom recovery like TWRP installed. If your device is not rooted, you cannot get Google Assistant to work on your device. A side effect of this mod will be that your Android device will be identified as Pixel or Pixel XL. This really should not be cause of any concerns, but you might run into some issues with an app every once in a while. You will also have to reinstall the mod after every OTA update you install on your device.
Other limitations that are related to Google Assistant itself include the fact that it currently only works with English and German languages.
How-To
Step 1: Download the following two files and transfer them inside the same folder on the internal storage of your Android device running Nougat.
Step 2: Boot your device into recovery mode. If you don’t know the key combination to do so, you can use the Quick Reboot application from the Google Play Store.
Step 3: After your device boots into recovery mode, tap Install, navigate to the folder where you had transferred the zip files from step 1 and select the ‘GoogleAssistantVelvet’ file. Once that is installed, repeat the steps, but this time select the ‘GoogleAssistantBuildProp’ file.
Step 4: Once you have installed both files, restart your phone. Before you are able to use Google Assistant, head over to Settings -> Apps. Tap the 3-dot overflow menu button and select Show system option. Now, from the list of apps being displayed, find the Google app listing. Open it, tap Permissions and proceed to grant the app access to all the necessary permissions.
You can now successfully trigger Google Assistant anytime by simply long-pressing the home button. Remember that Google Assistant is similar to Google Now, except that it is more conversational and smarter. On some devices, ‘OK Google’ detection might break after installing the above mod. In such cases, make sure to restart your device to see if it fixes the problem or not.
If you are facing any other issues in getting Google Assistant up and running on your Android device running Nougat, drop a comment below and we will help you out.
[Via XDA]
