Google Assistant can now finally interact with text messages

Google Assistant is a very useful feature to have. It made its debut on the Pixel and Pixel XL but is now rolling out to all smartphones running Android Nougat or Marshmallow. It looks like the popular digital assistant has recently gotten even more useful, thanks to a new update.

According to the screenshots provided by 9to5Google, Assistant can now finally read and interact with SMS text messages. For example, by saying “Show me my messages”, the message interface will pop up on your screen. The new feature allows you to check if you have any new messages, and can bring up your latest conversation if you say “Show me my last message.”

There’s a reply button next to each conversation that can be used to open the thread. By doing so, Assistant will ask you if you want to hear the message or just move on to the next one. Unfortunately, it doesn’t know how to tell the difference between unread and read messages, but we hope this will be sorted out with the next update.

It is also worth mentioning that Google Assistant always uses the default SMS client, which means it also works with third-party SMS application like Hangouts and Facebook Messenger.

What do you think about the new feature that’s available for Google’s popular digital assistant? Do you see yourself using it? Let us know by posting a comment down below.