What you need to know
- Google has announced an update to the Google Assistant and the Google Home app on iOS.
- The Google Assistant can now help you find your iPhone.
Siri isn't the only smart assistant who can find your iPhone anymore.
Today, Google announced that the Google Assistant will now also be able to help you locate where you misplaced your iPhone. While the Google Assistant has been able to find Android phones for a while now, Google has now added the capability to find iPhones as well.
According to the announcement, iPhone owners have to give notification and critical alert permission for the Google Home app in order to turn on the feature. This will allow the Smart Assistant to send a notification and custom ring to your iPhone even if you have Do Not Disturb turned on or your iPhone set to Silent Mode.
Can't remember where you put down your phone? Don't sweat it. Already one of the most popular features for Google Assistant, you can tell your Nest smart speaker or smart display, "Hey Google, find my phone," for all devices, now including iPhones. For iPhones, once you opt in to receiving notifications and critical alerts from the Google Home app, you'll get a notification and hear a custom ringing sound (even when the phone is on silent or if Do Not Disturb is enabled).
Of course, iPhone owners who don't have a Google Home or use the Google Assistant don't need this feature in order to find their iPhone. Apple's Find My service and Siri can do exactly that without having to give access to certain phone functions to another company like Google.
However, for those who are heavy into the Google ecosystem, it's a handy feature that has been missing for the iPhone for a while.
