Phone and Tablet Tips
ANDROID & iOS
Set ChatGPT as your default voice assistant
Google Assistant has long been the default voice assistant on Android devices, but – as we explained in our ‘Complete Guide to AI’ Cover Feature in Issue 706 – it’s being replaced by Google’s AI tool Gemini. You now also have the option to make ChatGPT your default digital assistant, if you prefer OpenAI’s tool to either of Google’s.
Provided you have the ChatGPT app (www.snipca.com/54204) installed on your Android phone or tablet, the change is easy to apply. Open the Settings app and tap Apps followed by ‘Default apps’.
Select ‘Digital assistant app’ then ‘Default digital assistant app’ and select ChatGPT (see screenshot below left). Press ‘OK’ to grant the assistant required permissions.required permissions.
You can now launch ChatGPT by long-pressing the Home button on your device and interact with the chatbot using Voice mode. However, unlike Google Assistant or Gemini, it can’t control system settings or perform tasks such as playing music, and saying “Hey Google” will still trigger one of those tools.
If you don’t want to use ChatGPT, you can instead combine Google Assistant and Gemini features to give you the best of both worlds. Open the Gemini app for Android (www.snipca. com/54221), tap your profile picture and choose Settings. Select ‘Google Assistant features in Gemini’ and switch on ‘Use Google Assistant features’. These features include managing smart-home devices and getting personalised information from Google apps.