AutoVoice not working anymore in Google Assistant

[Thomas]

Dear João,

I learned that Google Assistant is not supporting AutoVoice anymore.

I am absolutely confident that you will deliver a workaround and I am willing to pay for a new AutoApp anytime, if necessary.

Can you already estimate how long it will take to make it work again, because many of my smarthome commands depend on it (Google Assistant / AutoVoice hybrids).

Muito obrigado

Thomas

[João Dias]

Hi Thomas. I'm afraid I won't be able to create a workaround this time, sorry! Google simply turned off support. There's nothing I can do :( The only thing you can do is to get an Amazon Alexa which still allows for the functionality to work. Sorry!

Thank you for your contact.

   Join: connect multiple devices (send pushes, remote SMS, notifications) on Android, Windows, Mac, Linux

   Tasker: customize/automate anything on your phone!

   AutoApps: add advanced functionality to Tasker via plugins

     

João Dias

[Thomas]

Hi João,

AutoVoice is working again with Google Assistant 👍🏽

Maybe Google realized that it is important for people with disabilities? 🤔

[Brenden M]

"Hey Google, ask AutoVoice to tell Google to get off its case without me asking Google to  ask AutoVoice a million times"

lol

Yes, it's great when accessibility trumps the arbitrary denial of features for "proprietary hope of control over profits."

Sometimes, my Tasker usage is "power use," but sometimes I'm literally designing my own scenes and notifications to make sure I take my medicine on time that the doctor did prescribe!

That's more accessible to me than pre-made apps that don't do what I need. 

I am more able to succeed better in my real life because of the accessibility possibilities of automation apps.

They could have not allowed the "Continued Conversation" option based on a marketing principle "the more people say Hey Google in public, the better brand recognition."

Fact is, people would just use it less!

^^^ random thoughts, aha!

[Robert Stump]

Thomas, mine never came back to functioning, it worked fine until Tuesday this week.  Did you do something special to make it work again?  I also use this service extensively since I am physically unable to interact with my phone due to disability, so it will be greatly disappointing if I have to find another workaround for some important activities.  Alexa is doable but is clunky to implement and requires more steps to do the same thing, but if that is my only option I suppose I'll have to concede :-(

[Thomas]

Dear Robert,

it seems that Google finally pulled the plug(ins) on June 13th. Why it temporarily didn't work before, will remain one of the big intransparent Google mysteries. Maybe their AI realized how primitive Google Assistant still is and how essential third-party-plugins are and reactivated AutoVoice once again, until a greedy and ignorant human Google manager pulled the plug permanently 😜

I will also use Alexa only as a last resort, because I think that "she" sounds very evil 😱 Being a Google Home smarthome user I hope that AutoVoice respectively Tasker can be implemented in Google Home as a linked service one day.

If anyone in this community knows a way to trigger a Tasker-task by Google Assistant/Home, please let us know 🙏🏼

Kind regards

Thomas

[Brenden M]

While you guys are playing conspiracy theory with AI and secretive managers, I just looked it up for less than five minutes:

https://developers.google.com/assistant/ca-sunset

[Brenden M]

It was planned since June 2022.

[Thomas]

Hi Brenden M,

I was well aware of the discontinuation, but the question was why it has been already temporarily deactivated at the end of May. The emoticon "😜" means, that the writer tries to make a funny statement which is not supposed to be taken seriously.

Now it's time to find alternative solutions, especially for people with disabilities. Alexa seems to be one solution, but maybe someone will find a way that Google Assistant/Home users won't have to buy new hardware.

Kind regards

Thomas

[Brenden M]

All I was missing was the same emoticon! No worries! I figure talking about conspiracy theory and Google could not be taken seriously.

Seriously speaking, I wish the functionality remained too. I wish accessibility on a more full-fledged scale was embraced by technology companies.

But seriously, again, that's not a tech company issue, I fear. Streets, homes, many tools, stores, and services that we deem fundamental and that we have a right to access are all inaccessible to people with disabilities.

(Me included). It's a much larger change that's needed. I call on you to embrace it and join a larger struggle for this (genuinely) noble cause. 

Yesterday I gave a 10-minute presentation to my regional government regarding access to money and health care devices as they plan the budget for next year.

My motivation is to reduce overall government costs and increase life quality for those with distinct needs.

I'm afraid and hopeful that changing the world is the solution to accessibility issues in general.

Otherwise, things will be offered to sound accessible, then they'll be taken away, like this mere example.

It's a firmly established pattern in "capitalist democracies," to use a modern term.

A century ago, it was the roaring 20s with booze everywhere; prohibition came in the 30s; and now we're in the roaring 20s again pretty much.

I am really not speaking facetiously. 

I believe that people who are seeking accessibility need to be more politically motivated and organized rather than just waiting to receive things from profiteers who depend on us being in states of suspended unmet needs.

[Sharif Salah]

Hey guys

It's still possible to run tasks from a phone with tasker installed using Google Assistant (you may already know)

https://youtu.be/gGa4OfxmlzU

[Thomas]

Seems to work only with smartphones set to English system language.

So for now I have to start most tasks manually (for example by pushing an icon) using German system language on my smartphone.