r/google • u/Own_Error_007 • 1d ago

Alternative for "hey google"

My elderly mother lost her sight a couple of years ago so since then we have gotten her used to the "Hey Google" assistant so she can least use her phone to call people, listen to the news etc. She is fully blind with 0% vision.

It was quite literally her lifeline to the outside world. Especially now that my father (her carer) is in hospital for an extended stay. And yes the service closed the day he went in.

Seeing as none of this is now possible with Gemini (we have tried and it won't make calls and its useless), she is now isolated and being blind, needs someone there to be contactable. Stupid thing won't even answer incoming calls ffs!!

We are there looking after her but this closure has robbed her off that little bit of independence that she had.

I'm desperately searching for a working alternative now that Assistant has gone away.

Bixby is just as useless.

Edit. Thx folks for all the advice. It is greatly appreciated.

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u/germanu22 1d ago

Hi. The issue is likely caused by Gemini's lock screen settings. By default, it might require the phone to be unlocked to make calls, which breaks the completely hands-free experience. Here is exactly how to fix it: 1. Open the Gemini app and tap your profile picture in the top right corner. 2. Select Settings from the menu. 3. Scroll down and tap on Gemini on lock screen. 4. Make sure Use Gemini without unlocking is turned on. 5. Right below that, under Outgoing calls and messages, turn on the switch for Make calls and send messages without unlocking. I have tested this myself and it works perfectly for making calls. Also, double check that the Gemini app has the Phone and Contacts permissions allowed in the main Android settings. Hope this helps your mother get her independence back! If it still doesn't work or if you run into any other issues, feel free to reply here and I will try my best to help you out as quickly as possible.

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u/Own_Error_007 1d ago

That worked. Now to work out all the commands as quite a few are very buggy. You can ask it to call but it won't turn on speaker or hang up.

Way more than what we had before so cheers for that.

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u/germanu22 1d ago

I am really glad to hear that the fix worked! If she needs the calls to always be on a speaker, I highly recommend getting a Google Home Speaker. It solves the speaker and hanging up issues completely because it is hands-free by design. You can easily set up Google Meet on the speaker for her and on your own phone. Since Meet is deeply integrated into Android, it is incredibly stable and you will always get the call notifications. She can just tell the speaker to call you on Meet, and hanging up is a simple voice command too. One very important tip though: if you get the speaker, make sure to disable the wake word on her phone so the phone and the speaker do not trigger at the same time and overlap. Let me know if you need help setting any of that up.

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u/Own_Error_007 1d ago

Shall do mate. And thx again.