Google Assistant revamp adds new UI and voice commands to manage subscriptions

In the two years since its launch, Google Assistant has become faster, more powerful, and has added a variety of features and skillsets. Additionally, to further improve the user experience, Google is rolling out a redesign of the Assistant UI on Android, which now provides a consistent experience compared to the recently improved Google app.

It follows a new approach: a simpler interface with more white space and plenty of room for text and visual elements. Google Assistant, like other apps like Maps and Gmail, also gets rounded elements and irregular fonts from the Material theme.

Google says this version brings the same seamless experience to touchscreens that the voice interface brings to Google Home and other smart speakers.

After you launch Assistant, you can now simply swipe up to see an overview of your day. Previously, this displayed past searches and queries. This page also contains all the information that the assistant currently thinks is available.

In addition to the new overview flow, Google Assistant now has haptic controls and sliders to precisely adjust the values ​​of various parameters, such as the brightness of smart light bulbs connected to Google Assistant.

Google Assistant will also allow users to purchase digital subscriptions and expansion packs using just their voice . Google has opened an API for Google Assistant Actions developers to add payment elements.

The service is currently available in the US, with early adopters including Starbucks and meditation app Headspace . You can also link your Google account to Starbucks Rewards and get more details if you want, but Starbucks Rewards lets you activate or renew your Headspace subscription with just your voice.

While this feature has the potential to usher in a new era of voice banking, Google believes that voice actions can be exploited and misused by malicious parties to initiate unwanted subscriptions or make fraudulent payments. You need to make sure that you do not