Namaste! Google Assistant now available in Hindi

Google on Thursday rolled out Hindi support for its virtual assistant Google. The Assistant in Hindi will be available on Android phones 6.0+ (Marshmallow and above) and will soon come to Android 5.0 Lollipop, iPhones as well as Android Oreo (Go edition) devices. Google Assistant is already available in Hindi in the instant-messaging platform Allo and in a special version on Reliance Jio feature phones. "In order to make it even more useful to Indians over time, developers and businesses can now build Actions for the Hindi Assistant through the developer platform Actions on Google," said Purvi Shah, Technical Programme Manager, Assistant.

"Once an action is built, you can just say "Ok Google, talk to" and access the service or content straight through your Google Assistant," she added. To try it out, just touch and hold the Home button or say "Ok Google" on eligible smartphones and your personal Google Assistant will be ready to help.

To access the Hindi Google Assistant, set your device language to Hindi and update your Google Search app to the latest version. Google Assistant will be available in more than 30 languages by the end of this year.

"The Assistant is already available in eight languages, and by the end of the year it will be available in more than 30 languages, reaching 95 per cent of all eligible Android phones worldwide," Nick Fox, Vice President of Product, Google wrote in a recent blog post.