Google Assistant Ambient Mode was announced in 2019, but not many people are aware of this feature and its usefulness. For starters, Assistant Ambient Mode is a redefined ‘Always On Display’ that only turns on when charging your Android device.
It replaces your phone’s native lock screen with notifications as well as other nifty tools and shortcuts for easy access. In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps required to enable and use the feature on your device.
Enabling Ambient Mode for Google Assistant
Stage 1: Activate Google Assistant on your smartphone.
Simply touch and hold the home button or say ‘Hey Google’ or ‘OK Google’. Alternatively, if your device is running Android 10 and you are using ‘Gesture navigation’, simply swipe up from the bottom left or bottom right corner of the screen to activate Assistant.
Step 2: With the Assistant pop-up on the screen, tap the Explore/Compass-like icon in the lower left corner.
Stage 3: On the Explore page, tap the profile picture in the upper right corner.
Step 4: Tap Settings from the menu options.
Step 5: Now, go to the Assistant tab.
Step 6: Scroll to the bottom of the Assistant settings page and tap Phone under the Assistant devices section.
This is where you can customize how Assistant works on your device.
Step 7: Next, scroll to the bottom of this page and turn on the Ambient Mode option.
You can find the Ambient Mode option under the Personalization section. When Ambient Mode is enabled, your device’s screen will look like the picture below when your phone is plugged into the charger.
Note: The ‘Photo Frame in Ambient Display’ option is also automatically activated when you switch to Ambient Mode. This will display different photos in a selected album from your Google Photos account in Ambient Mode.
On the main screen of Ambient Mode, your phone’s clock will be displayed in a prominent gray digital format. Battery percentage and charge notification will be displayed along with other app icons in your phone’s notification tray. Simply tap the screen to switch to the Secondary Media screen. Here you can control music playback, view weather conditions, view upcoming alarms and much more.
There is also an Assistant icon at the bottom of the Ambient Mode screen. Tap the icon to interact with the Google Assistant by voice.
When you unlock your device while it’s charging, you can quickly return to Assistant Ambient Mode by swiping down from the notification tray and tapping ‘Back to Ambient Mode’.
Can’t find Ambient Mode in Assistant settings menu, check out some troubleshooting options in the section below.
Enabling Assistant Ambient Mode: Troubleshooting Tips
When Google introduced the Ambient Mode feature, it was only available on certain devices, specifically phones manufactured by Google (Nexus and Pixel phones) and some Android One devices. If you can’t find Ambient Mode in your device’s Google Assistant, here are some things you need to do to get the feature.
1. Update your Operating System
Google Assistant Ambient Mode has been developed to work only on devices running Android 8.0 Oreo and higher. If your device is running Android 7.0 Nougat operating system or earlier, Ambient Mode will not be available on your device.
2. Install the Google Assistant App
Although Assistant is included with the Android operating system and is available to almost every Android device, there is a dedicated Assistant app in the Google Play Store. If your device is up to date but still cannot find or use Google Assistant Ambient Mode, you should install the Google Assistant app and restart your device. Next, your device should have Ambient Mode in the Assistant settings menu.
This worked for me on my Nokia 6.1 Plus. The Ambient Mode option was nowhere to be found at first, but after installing the Assistant app from the Play Store and restarting my device, the feature appeared in my device’s Assistant menu.
If Assistant is already installed on your device, check if it has been updated to the latest version.
Turning off Assistant Ambient Mode
If, after trying out Google Assistant Ambient Mode, you find that you don’t like this feature or prefer the normal lock screen image, it’s easy to turn it off. Follow the same steps as to activate. Open the Google Assistant Settings menu, tap Phone and turn Ambient Mode off.
Color Your Screen
Google Assistant Ambient Mode is an easy and fun way to turn your phone’s screen into a smart assistant while charging it. The concept is great and you should definitely try it. don’t you enjoy Follow the steps above to turn it off.
Next: Is your device’s battery percentage missing in Ambient Mode or not showing? Check how to fix it in the article linked below.
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