You won’t have to say ‘Hey Google’ every time you talk to the Assistant anymore

One of the most annoying things about the Google Assistant is having to repeat ‘Hey Google’ every single time you talk to it. Whether following up on an earlier command or trying to ask multiple questions, it gets tiring very fast. That’ll soon be a thing of the past.

At Google I/O, the company announced two new features to simplify you chats with the assistant: continued conversation and multiple actions. They’re pretty much what they sound like, and are right in line with the new features  Amazon added to Alexa.

With Continued Conversation, you can follow up on previous requests without having to repeat ‘Hey Google’ or ‘Okay Google.’ You can ask “what will the weather be like tomorrow?” and when Google answers, you can follow up with “what about next week?” without the clunkyness of repeating the key word. The Assistant will also be able to tell when you’re talking to it as opposed to the people around you, though it’s not clear how longer after your initial request Google will continue to listen.

Meanwhile, Multiple Actions simply lets you ask two questions in one go. Something like “who is the president of the Dominican Republic and when is his birthday?” should be no problem, though Google showed off more complicated requests as well. It’s a small but important step in making the Assistant a little more human.