Apps
Google Assistant gets a new ‘Hold for Me’ feature that waits on calls for you
During its launch event, Google announced its new Hold for Me feature for the Google Assistant. Along with the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G, the Hold for Me feature will be coming to older Pixel phones in a future feature drop.
This new Google Assitant’s ‘Hold for Me‘ features, this put a call on hold and notify you when someone picks your call. This feature saves you from hours of elevator music, and your ears.
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Hold for Me saves you, and your ears, hours of elevator music.
When you’re put on hold, Google Assistant will wait and notify you when someone comes on the line, ready to talk. You’ll like it, unless elevator music is your jam.https://t.co/Jieau9GfMQ #LaunchNightIn #Pixel5G pic.twitter.com/Ap6V4eJfq8
— Made By Google (@madebygoogle) September 30, 2020
This feature is only available in the US for new Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A (5G) phones, and it works only for toll-free numbers (1-800 numbers and the like).
How does it work?
Hold for Me, Google’s latest Phone app feature, when you call a toll-free number and a business puts you on hold, Google Assistant can wait on the line for you. You can go back to your day, and Google Assistant will notify you with sound, vibration, and a prompt on your screen once someone is on the line and ready to talk. Hold for Me is the latest effort to make phone calls better and save you time.
Hold for Me is powered by Google’s Duplex technology, which not only recognizes hold music but also understands the difference between a recorded message (like “Hello, thank you for waiting”) and a representative on the line.
Once a representative is identified, Google Assistant will notify you that someone’s ready to talk and ask the representative to hold for a moment while you return to the call.
Your call will be muted to let you focus on something else, but at any time, you can check real-time captions on your screen to know what’s happening on the call.
Google says the audio processing is done privately on your device and does not require a Wi-Fi/data connection. It is an optional feature you can enable in settings and choose to activate during each call to a toll-free number. To determine when a representative is on the line, audio is processed entirely on your device and does not require a Wi-Fi or data connection.
When you return to the call after Google Assistant was on hold for you, audio stops being processed altogether.
