Slowly but steadily, Google has been integrating its own products and services with Assistant. After recently adding Google account support to Duo — its video calling service, Google has now added Duo integration to Assistant. 

This means that you can now use Google Assistant to do a video call to anyone who is on Duo. All you need to do is simply trigger Assistant by long pressing the home button or by saying “Ok Google” followed by “make a video call to <insert contact name>.”

The update seems to be a server-side change from Google and it currently seems to be slowly rolling out to Assistant users worldwide. If the Duo integration is available for your Assistant, you should see a ‘Voice and Video calls’ option in Assistant settings.

It is clear that Google is adding these integrations and features to Assistant to prepare it for upcoming Smart displays like the Amazon Echo Spot which will run on Assistant and come with a dedicated screen. These devices will sit in the living room or the kitchen table and apart from checking the weather and watching videos, it will likely also be periodically used for making video calls to friends and family by an average joe.

What do you think about Google Assistant gaining Duo integration? Useful or just a gimmick?