Is a separate volume control for Google Assistant finally on the way?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could control the volume of Google assistant independently of other media that’s playing? Well, maybe that’s on the horizon if the setting sited in the iOS Home app is to be believed. Aptly titled “preferred assistant volume level” it appears to be broken right now but the addition does offer hope for the near future.

Aligned next to another tickbox labelled “Auto Assistant volume” which is also very broken according to Android Police:

Ticking that box lowered the volume to an inaudible level on one tipster’s smart display, and made it blaringly high on my Nest Mini, no matter the music playback situation or ambient noise.

This is not the first time we have seen this appear with it also showing up in the iOS app in the middle of last year. It seems that Google have placed more of an emphasis on it now though with it no longer in the “Custom TTS Volume” menu although the slider actually did nothing at that time.

The slider still does not do anything, nor keep the settings you input but it does pose the suggestion that Google is getting close to implementing the new feature for users — possibly was originally going to be a Google I/O announcement? The new volume feature is similar to a feature that Alexa speakers include known as whisper mode that automatically engages based on the volume of your voice when using the trigger words.

Regardless of how its implemented by Google, it’s something that needs to be right the first time. Getting it wrong can and likely will turn users away from their smart devices, but getting it right will elevate the Assistant platform yet again.