Google Now is being left to wither and die as Google Assistant takes the focus

Google Now used to be really useful. It used to be so good that I only used Google Now Launcher (opens in new tab) on every phone because I needed to have Google Now just a swipe away on my home screen. Any other launcher felt like it was keeping me disconnected from information that I relied on every day.

As we turned the calendar over to 2018, and just spent a week at CES 2018 seeing a huge emphasis on Google Assistant, it looks like Google's happy to let the traditional Google Now feature set — aka the "feed" — wither and die. In the past six months, Google Now has gone from a must-have feature to something I have stopped looking at regularly and even forgotten about for days at a time. It's no longer helpful, insightful or useful.

Every morning, I used to unlock my phone, swipe to the right on my home screen and scroll through Google Now. I'd get updates on the weather, traffic, sports scores, upcoming calendar events, reminders about important emails and more. Throughout the day, when something was really important, I'd get a notification telling me about it — things like a stark change in the weather, an accident on my route to an appointment or breaking news.

Google Now used to be the start of my daily routine; now it's an afterthought, at best.

Now, my engagement with Google Now (ahem, feed) is sporadic and mostly disappointing. Swiping over on my home screen today shows me ... just a bunch of poorly-targeted news stories. Some based on things I like, others perhaps tangentially so, and many that are clearly jumping out on a limb to show me what's "trending" even though I have no interest in it. How did the once-wonderful Google Now turn into the same annoying throwaway feature as Samsung's Flipboard Briefing and HTC's News Republic in BlinkFeed?

Google Now no longer shows me a single piece of information on appointments, calendar events, commute times or anything of the sort. I rarely get reminders for upcoming events or bills or other information from Gmail. There's one small card with upcoming weather, but that's just about the easiest possible thing to show and is available anywhere.

A subset of these things has been moved behind an "upcoming" button — one that's found in different places depending on your phone and launcher — and even in here I don't get the same great layout of up-to-date information at a glance that I once had. It's not even close, actually. This was the reason to use Google Now, and it's relegated to a second press and a different interface, entirely removed from the spontaneity and immediacy of being right there next to my main home screen. The useful notifications, too, have disappeared. At best I'll get a reminder about a sports game starting or a big drop in a stock ticker I've searched. Sigh.

What the hell is Google doing with the Google Now feed? Ignoring it, as far as I can tell.

Google Assistant on the Google Pixel 2 XL

As Google Now dies a slow death, Google Assistant has of course taken the focus. Many of the core features of Google Now in terms of following what you do and what you like to tailor answers and information to you in particular is integrated into the new Assistant experience. It works across a variety of devices, with and without screens, and does so primarily with voice interactions — and that's precisely the reason why it can't replace Google Now in the way I used to love it. Google Assistant works great for a question and answer, or a short interaction with a couple of phrases — but the number of visual interactions are extremely limited, as are the ways that Assistant can "push" information to you when you need it.

The 'old' Google Now and new Google Assistant can work together in harmony — and that's what I want.

In many ways, the "old" Google Now was a far better assistant than Google Assistant is today. Today's version of Google Assistant is sitting there, waiting to help you when you ask it to — and it's ridiculously smart when you do. But a proper personal assistant does things before you ask, and has information waiting for you before you're ready to see it. Google Now may not know if you prefer coffee or tea in the morning, but it will prepare both before you're out of bed; Google Assistant knows your drink preferences, but it sits there and waits for you to wake up, shuffle into the kitchen and say "Google, make me some coffee" before it does anything. That's a key difference in user experience.

With how little the two services actually overlap, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that they could be put together on your phone. Bring back Google Now as it once was: a visual feed of super-useful information based on all sorts of data Google has about you and your habits. Stop pushing piles of useless news that I don't care about, or let me turn it off entirely. And take this renewed respect for how good Google Now was and put it dead-center with the Google Assistant's interface on my phone. When I talk to it, give me the Assistant's voice commands and knowledge base. But if I just want to scroll and see what's there for me before I even ask, let me have it in the same place.

Until then, I won't be using Google Now anymore.

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.

147 Comments

Agree 100% with you, Andrew.
Totally agree. Also, the "feed" doesn't seem to be playing nice with Chrome. It's locking up my Verizon Note8 when I click a link...
It would be acceptable IF they bothered to enroll all devices
Yes. You hit the nail on the head. Google, please take consideration for the early adopters who use most. We need our flagship to be a flagship.
"But a proper personal assistant does things before you ask, and has information waiting for you before you're ready to see it" Precisely. All this boasting about machine learning, natural language and troves of personal data I (willingly) supply, yet I feel I still have to fish for useful information. I'm really hoping 2018 is the year Google really brings all of this together. Or SOMEONE does.
I feel that the Assistant is trying to don't his but in a more interactive and focused way. Also, with more context and a bit of "conversation". Imagine how good the assistant will be in two years from now. What Google is doing is still 5-10 years ahead of Siri and Cortana.
Thanks for the article. Couldn't agree more.
Google Now was useless right from the start. I don't talk to my phone, so I couldn't care less about Google Assistant, Cortana, or Bixby on the phone. I enjoy my Echo devices, however, even if they don't know what I want before I ask for it.
If I can't say to my LOCKED phone, call Mom and get it to work then Voice Assistants are USELESS. Bixby won't do this on my S7. And neither will Google Assistant (although I understand it would on a Pixel). Moto Voice did on my Droid Turbo 2. For me, voice assistants and neural processing or whatever they call it is just a gimmic. Sure it's cool to ask my friends and families Echo what the weather is, but come on.... Further more, I am tired of being incessantly tracked and my every interaction with my tech recorded on a server somewhere by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, etc. Give me the option to name my voice assistant whatever I want...I don't really want to say "Hey Google." Have to give Amazon credit for coming up "Alexa" versus "Hey Amazon." I did like my Moto Voice. I could name my phone anything I wanted. Sure it was more limited on what it did, however, the things it did do it did correctly!
I had it set up so I can use Bixby on my locked Note8. I don't remember how I did it, and I don't care. I think it involved a spoken password. I just don't have the desire to talk to my phone.
Also, by the way, you CAN say "Alexa, call mom" if you have Echo connect. I'm thinking about buying one. That would be useful, IMO.
I want to be able to say "Call Mom" when I'm out and about...not when I'm home. I have nothing against folks that want to purchase an Echo, but having a device in my house listening to my every word and sound is too creepy for me....
Sorry to burst your bubble. However, if you have any smartphone (Android or iOS or the ASOP variants) you have a device in your house listening in on you, unless you've taken precautions to disable microphone permissions for nearly every app, etc.
I think most folks are more or less accepting this fact for the trade-off of the value it brings to the table. I suppose this is a thing if you are a crazy conspiracy theorist. Contrary to many people's popular belief they are mostly normal, are not dealing in major drug trade or other illicit dealings, and have virtually nothing interesting to anyone that can hack and access the voice data captured by a device with a mic. But hey if you are running a drug cartel, sex business, money laundering scheme, or other highly illegal trade. You absolutely do not want any smart assistant or anything with a mic near anywhere your trade is discussed. If you have any concern about privacy you probably aren't using Google's products or Android anyways.
We've been trying to get our phones to dial mom unsuccessfully since at least 1991!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liNG2--GczI
I can call someone with GA from my locked phone but I'm sure it has to do with smart lock being on.
I think you are confusing Google now with the assistants. It was exceptional curating content and giving alerts if you embraced the Google ecosphere.
The echo devices were nice but in my opinion are lackluster in comparison to the home devices.
Google Now wasn't about talking at all. It was about the phone always displaying relevant information to you at all times. At a glance and for important things, as a notification. It did this very nicely! For example, of the stocks I monitor, if any stock went up or down a lot, it would show as a notification. Including on Android Wear. At the end of the day, it would display the closing index instead. All this is gone and for some 195 countries, there is no Assistant to replace it yet!
I've used to Google Now launcher for years and I never had the good experience you had, only your more recent experience. Google was always off with its traffic reminders, never gave me weather reminders and only gave me random stories that were nothing I was interested in. I like the launcher but the rest of it was never anything but annoying to me. Oh but it did recently give me a heads up on a flight delay for a flight that I didn't book, I only had a forwarded email so props for that.
Bixby's page is just as bad, if not worse. I'm not interested in anything it lists. I check now and then just to see if it improved, and it hasn't.
I get travel (commute) times, calendar/agenda items, recent orders with tracking, parking location, bills due, stocks, etc. All on the upcoming tab. Also get notifications of travel times prior to the time I leave for home.
Same thing I was about to say. I just checked mine (Using the Google Now integration in Nova Launcher) and have all the personal things you mention
This works for me, too... I just don't use it because it's buried in the app. I'd happily use it if I could have a shortcut to it or swipe over to it, but the Upcoming pane can't be swapped in to replace the news feed. The news feed is useless to me - I have feedly for my news, and it syncs what I've read between devices and makes it easy to dismiss articles I don't want to read.
This. This. 100% This. Google assistant is great. but Google now does different things from it, and shouldn't be allowed to wither and die. the "upcoming" tab was the worst thing that has happened to it.
I would be fine with the Upcoming tab if it was the primary tab instead of the news feed, and you could access it by swiping left on the home screen. That'd be useful. The current implementation is just awful compared to the Google Now of two years ago.
100% spot on. I hope Google read this. I'll tweet it to them.
Google is like a hyperactive child, that easily gets distracted by "new" things and abandons features quickly
Maybe they're too busy with "diversity" to be able to focus on doing a proper job.
Shouldn't you be at a klan rally then?
Hes probably not a DemoKraut.
Totally agree. I've had the Google app on my homescreen for a while and it would basically bring up the Google Now feed. In the past few months, it's gone from very useful to absolute crap. Mostly, it shows me news articles and webpages that I've already read! I'll go read a few things on Jalopnik, then later that day, those same articles show up in my Feed. How useful is that? Great, you know what I like because it's stuff I've literally already searched out for myself. The other BS part is it doesn't listen to any of my recommendations. I have a few sports teams that I selected as favorites, so it gives me updates on when they play or what the score is/was. But it also shows video highlights, which I don't want to see. So I select options and click "stop showing video highlights". Next game comes along and guess what... more video highlights!! I've also done this with certain news topics that I don't want to see and they just keep coming back, but maybe loosely veiled as something else. Sad to see something so useful get lost in the clutter. I also agree that I don't want to talk to my phone or have my phone talk to me all the time.
I too get the score notifications. Trouble is they don't come through on time. I get a notification that the match has started about 20 minutes after it has kicked off. I rarely get score updates and the final score comes through about an hour after the game has finished. When I dismiss the notification 5 minutes later it will pop up again.
The only time I have used OK Google was when I first got an android phone. I haven't used it at all since it changed to Hey Google.
Google alienated me with assistant when they turned off the"swipe away" feature, when you are finished reading a story. Yet, the swipe away feature is still present in the personal updates section. I agree, with all this AI and machine learning, how do I still have autocorrect messing up the words I type in my keyboard, sorry, Gboard?
Yeah I didn't have room in this article for another two paragraphs about removing the swipe. INFURIATING!
+1000000
Exactly this.
The reason they removed swipe to dismiss on presented cards was to force interaction and siphon off your preferences (are you swiping because not interested in this subject, this news source?). Yet, they allow it in personal cards. Unreal.
If Google insists on pushing these targeted stories, move them to a second tab where we can choose view them. Keep calendar info, Gmail updates, sports, weather & traffic together.
This is almost exactly what they did, but they put the news feed first instead of the "Upcoming" tab. The Upcoming tab has most of the stuff we want, but it's buried in the app and can't be accessed by swiping left from the home screen... so we'll never see any of it. I wish the different tabs would just be made into widgets so we could use them on whatever launcher we liked, in whatever orientation we liked...
They pulled a Facebook...
I love it when people state opinions as facts.
Just like you did
His statement, as it reads, isn't an opinion. It would, indeed, be a fact.
You don't have a clue...opinion You don't have a clue about what I'm referring to... fact
I love when people are too dense or stupid not to be able to tell the difference.
"How did the once-wonderful Google Now turn into the same annoying throwaway feature as Samsung's Flipboard Briefing and HTC's News Republic in BlinkFeed?" You know Google has gotten pretty low when you have to compare it to the HTC Blinkfeed and Samsung's Flipboard.
Right on point. Google Now was one of the best features of Android.
Personally, still plenty useful to me. Still shows me relevant articles, scores etc based on my interests, usage, history etc
Agreed. I like the current format.
Preach it, brother! The feed crap is annoying. And Assistant is accomplishing the same purpose that GNow used to.
Welcome to the Google persistent beta program. Why complain as we all knew what we signed up for... We all know that by now that everything that Google starts will be deprecated and terminated within a few years in favor of a flashy new toy or in favor of no replacement at all. Its the Google way!
It sounds like you're complaining, so you should know the answer to your question: "Because we can!" Nothing wrong with a persistent beta program as far as I'm concerned, but beta usually implies free, and phones these days along with their service charges are expensive. On the plus side, not everything Google betas disappears. I've been using Project Fi for years, it's gotten better, they now have family plans and unlimited plans. The Nexus phones evolved into Pixels, I don't like the price but devices are nice. Yeah they get distracted, but they're generally alwys moving in the right direction.
It was dead as soon as they refused to update it to fix the traffic notifications. There was no easy way to turn them off, especially on Android Wear devices, without disabling ALL of Google Now. Every day, EVERY SINGLE DAY, I'd be driving home, already on the busy freeway and it would vibrate my watch with a notification WHILE I'M DRIVING that there's slowdown ahead. Well, no ****. I can see it. And of course the notification would be gone before I could find out what sent it.
You can actually go in and change what you get notified about in the Google app's settings now (at least, it's working for me on Oreo - don't recall if it was there on Nougat, so it might be a Notification Channels thing). Not sure if that'd really help in your case, though, or if it'd be worth it for the rest of Google Feed as it is now.
It was a mess and I disabled all possible notifications while still leaving Google Now on and it would STILL notify me. I went into every possible app and setting. It seemed it was only a thing when paired with Android Wear and Google Now together.
I look at the feed every day after work. It is like reading the evening edition. If they kill that then I will be very sad. I have yet to understand what the fuss is about assistant is. Seems the same as Google Now to me.
While I can understand the opinion, I disagree with the take. Google Feed gives me the listing of topics curated to my individual interest. I like that! The information in the former Google Now is still there just a tap away upcoming if I need to review it. IMO, it's even more useful than the previous version of Google Now.
I was never a big user of the feed, but recently it's actually gotten my attention more often and I've started checking it daily as well. Much like you my experience has been positive. I am not a long term user though, the OP seems like it compares what it functioned like in the past vs. now. Perhaps we missed out on the "golden age" of the Google Feed. Ignorance is bliss :)
I'm familiar with all the previous formats, including the most recent that Andrew is referencing. I just don't agree with the opinion that the current format is "useless". This particular article is rooted in his specific taste in UI, and that's cool since it is an opinion piece.
I've had Nexus phones since 2012, and the day Google Now debuted was the day I went to Nova. I'm all out on the "we'll make your life better/easier" thing.
"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them.+
- Louis Armstrong
I don't use assistant at all. I used Now very little but when that went away I just disabled assistant entirely. I don't even like that swipe left to get to whatever google calls that screen. I think it used to be the google now screen. (feed maybe?) it is all information that seems like I'd rather get elsewhere. Like I get weather and news from apps dedicated to those things. if I have packages or hotel information I need to check I use the email links I received. Assistant is just a glorified way for them to collect data on you. I just disable it which probably also has the effect of saving me some battery. I use Action launcher.
I agree Google Now used to be far more useful to me but I still like its news feed. I just wish they would fix the layout of the "more stories" view on tablets. The initial list of featured news renders adequately, if a bit randomly, on tablets but "More stories" renders in a strange narrow column along the left side of the screen. About 60% of the screen is simply blank. It's been that way for years, on every Android tablet I've ever owned. It drives me crazy that they've never fixed it.
Good news!!! You can swipe from the left and tap that "thing" on the top right and you can access your cards from there!!! Yeah I know it's an annoying double tap but hey it's still there!!!
Agreed 💯! Now tell Google
Yes, yes, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just noticed myself that I stopped using Google now. I loved it, but was getting tired of the news that had filled it up and also was giving me notifications that I didn't care for. I miss the old Google now. I join Andrew in no longer using it unless the old one comes back. Which we all know that it won't.
100% Correct! Such a waste now, a really bad move on Google's part.
I hate Google assistant. Whenever I watch YouTube videos in landscape mode, it messes with my volume, and asks me to "turn it on". If I wanted the thing on, I would not have turned it completely off in the first place.
I use it every day still. I get weather, track packages, see news, appointments...etc. Nothing has really changed. Granted, I use a third party launcher so I don't have the tabbed interface, just the same feed that's been there for years.
Google Now was the most innovative thing Google did in the last 10 years. I remember making quite a few Apple users jealous of its smart and predictive capabilities. Then one day I wake up, and they replace Google Now with a ******* news feed. It went from being a groundbreaking and innovative user interface to a predictive and contextual artificially intelligent virtual assistant that seamlessly tied Google services together, to being a ******* news feed. Six months ago, I abandoned the Google Now Launcher and Pixel Launcher, installed Nova Launcher and bid adieu to Google Now. If I didn't have the need for Google Assistant, I'd uninstall the Google app altogether.
Never, ever depend on anything from Google or assume it'll be around forever. That's the harsh lesson that anyone who depended on one or more services from the Google graveyard has learned the harsh way. For me it was when they killed Google Reader but for others it was the demise of Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google Talk, Google Labs or some of their other projects. https://www.wordstream.com/articles/retired-google-projects
The list of suggested news articles that shows up in the Google Chrome browser and voice search in Google Chrome works fine for me. I haven't missed Google Now since I stopped using it. I don't bother with the Google Search bar nor icon either.
The changes they have made are regrettable and has rendered the feed useless. But, for some reason, I see a lot more ads. Can't figure it out!
Hmm..My google now still gives me all that. In fact I just took the Android One launcher that was released on xda last week and put it on my Honor 8 and although it runs a bit slow, having the feed takes me back to my Nexus 5x days. All my stock, reminders, tracking numbers, recent orders from gmail, parking location, even comcast bill reminder was there. So maybe you just turned something off.
Still use it every day, still getting traffic, on-point stories, and all the rest. You say you stopped using it, and when you do go in, there's nothing there? With an app that gives recommendations based on your usage, I'm sure those two things are completely unrelated...
Logged in, just to add voice to this as well. Like everyone else has said, 100% agree on everything on this article. I wanted to upvote almost every line in this article, especially the first 3 paragraphs or so. I love Google, but I never understand why they keep removing useful features from users! Look at all the useful apps they thought nobody would miss and we STILL miss it.. google reader, I even miss google Wave! It was so well done and had so much potential! same with hangouts, google voice and now google now! Google please please please Staaahp!
It's not really Google Assistant's fault, it's Google's. This is their business model (yank on their users all the time)
Ironic that the only assistant that even attempts to show this kind of info anymore is the much maligned Cortana. Except for the recent preview builds on Win10, Cortana has a home screen with proactive info. Not the exact kind Google Now used to but the crucial stuff imo. Calendar, tasks (synced with Wunderlist), reminders, weather, and maybe some other bits depending on synced services. Cortana for Android presents all of this beautifully right now and I wish I could get the same from the G Assistant. Would love a vertical phone version of the new screen version of Assistant we are seeing on Lenovo's smart screens.
Seriously, is anyone shocked? Google M O. Develop an app, get people hooked and then pull the hook. Why I've stopped using Google apps as much as possible.
I couldn't disagree more.... I rarely, if ever, used Google Now in the past. It was more of a novelty that would track sports scores and a few relative articles for me. However, over the last few months, I have found myself checking it daily... and the main reason why is the content level. I get all the same personalized information up-top, with trending and interest reads thereafter (and plenty thereof). It's a great 'one stop shop' for news that I'm both interested in, and what's trending/important. I also love the Google assistant, and if I ever decide to 'listen to my news' instead of read it, it's the place to go... but when I'm just looking for a quiet read, without disturbing nearby counterparts, Google Now is the place to go.
Amen. This is exactly how I feel. I used to love Google Now, and now it's just a garbage news feed. Spot on article ..
Google Assistant is worthless too, not to mention privacy tradeoffs and data mining
who the hell needs 5 bottles of mercedes windshield wiper fluid concentrate is what i want to know
lol you should work in QA It's probably the smallest unit you can get at costco
I'm confused, I get all of the information that this article states, but it is just a single tap to get there. And, I absolutely hated all of my appointments and calendar events intermingled with my news feed. HATED IT! I think I'm really missing the point. All of my calendar, travel, and personal information are just a tap away and most times they hit the swipe down notification panel before I even get a chance to interact with the phone. And, if you're using the pixel launcher your calendar events show up on your main home screen. This article is just another whine and moan session over nothing really!
Exactly! For some reason, the article would almost have a reader believe that the information is so removed that it's a true chore to locate, when in reality it's barely an inconvenience
I still use Google Now on a regular basis, but you're correct about its lacking feature set. It actually made my phone feel futuristic. You used to get a notification about an interest or appointment. It's rare that it happens. Not as intrinsic as it once was.
Agreed! I've noticed this as well!
So true. It's a shame my Pixel 2 doesn't have a "better" version of this old Google Now experience. You'd think that Pixels would have things more fleshed out.
And for heaven's sake, who the heck thought it was better to tap twice to hide a story rather than swipe it away? That was the beginning of the end of Google Now for me.
Facts.
I liked Google Now also..but Andrew , to say it kept you from having another launcher is nonsense! I hit the home button while on the home screen and Nova brings up Google Now....you could use plenty of other shortcuts to get to it as well.
It's such a mess right now that I don't even bother trying to set it all up. Just looking at settings in the google app (is that assistant or Google Now?), there are options for notifications in numerous places. I turned weather notifications in all places I found, and I still get daily annoying weather notification. It's a mess.
FWIW I got to this article from the Google Now feed. Probably wouldn't have gotten here any other way from my normal habits.
Same here. The usefulness of the feed partly depends on how much you set your interests and respond when it asks if a particular card is useful.
I turn all the microphone permissions off. I dont want all that stuff "listening" to me.... its just creepy
Right, because there's a guy sitting at Google headquarters all day whose job it is to listen to your banal life and take notes on everything you do and say. Way to fight back!
Well I found this article in my Google Now feed so...
I love Google now. I still use it every day and to be honest more than I use assistant. I love both but Google now comes in handy more than assistant on most days
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Coincidentally, my pet project this week has been trying to understand what the heck happened to google now and if I could do away with "the feed" that replaced it and get the "upcoming" data back where it used to be. The feed can be turned off, but it leaves a blank page and I still have to click the upcoming button to get the content I want, and then I can't just swipe back to my home screen, I have to "back" out ... It's really a kludge. I did find that if you put widget on your home screen, you can tap a non-weather row in it and it'll take you to the upcoming screen directly, but it's still a shadow of the former glory that "now" used to be.
Once there will be parity between all devices, we can thank google. I'm using google assistant and totally love it.
I still use the google now feed daily. It works fine with Nova Launcher, and the new port of the Android One launcher. I occasionally use Google Assistant.
"Google Now no longer shows me a single piece of information on appointments, calendar events, commute times or anything of the sort. I rarely get reminders for upcoming events or bills or other information from Gmail. There's one small card with upcoming weather, but that's just about the easiest possible thing to show and is available anywhere." In my case, I see traffic advisories of various sorts, calendar reminders, commute times in the morning and afternoon and other things that still make Google Now useful on my trusty Galaxy S7.
I get nothing but news about stuff I absolutely hate, don't know what happened to the sports I care about and even if you say not interested in a topic the same thing is back in 5 seconds
I still look at mine for news stories I'm interested in. There's usually at least one that catches my attention.
Reposting my comment from a similar Reddit:
--- I regularly leave feedback about how user hostile the Pixel Launcher Feed has become. * Removal of swipe to dismiss that forces you to engage if you are done with this story or no longer want to see news from an entire source.
* Repeatedly presenting the same stories from different sources without option to select not interested in subject as opposed to entire news source.
* Broken features in 3rd menu item in bottom such as 'My Photos' which literally opens a search tab on Google for the phrase 'my photos' (not actually my own photos).
* Having moved my personal relevant info into the abyss of the new submenu icon and filling the primary feed with sh*t stories. Like, what the fu*k Google?
Bring back the old Google Now Launcher.
That I can no longer swipe them away is what irritates me the most.
Amen. I think I could put up with the random story recommendations if swipe away still worked
I'd encourage you all who do not like the current iteration of Feed to use the 'send feedback' feature. As much as we can agree or disagree here, the feedback tool is the main means of communicating wity Google's respective teams.
Actual Feedback
--- Should severe weather alerts be prioritized more than they are currently? Here we have a Winter Storm Warning with relevant information including dangerous road conditions. This information is not in the main feed. It is hidden behind an nondescript concave icon with 3 lines. (what is that supposed to represent?). Important information relating to saftey is hidden while tabloid news stories dominate the main feed. Personal information (weather alerts, appointments, itinerary, packages tracking, etc.) should be prioritized, not buried within the feed.
Hey! I emailed you guys about this exact topic, pointing out the identical issues a couple months ago...credit please, lol. Totally kidding, and really miss my Google Now feed:(
Yeah, I used to be able to swipe up and there'd be links to whatever was on my screen. Super efficient.
Now, it can't read anything on my screen most of the time. Fail.
Strangely I don't have the upcoming tab on my Honor 8. I don't really know why.....
So...why does my Google Now feed look different from yours?
I'm not complaining, mind you. I don't have nearly as many of the problems you're describing.
I couldn't agree more. What irks me the most is how the decline of Google Now reduced the value of Android Wear. I long for the days I toted my 1st gen Moto 360 when Google Now cards were native to the Wear OS. IMO Wear 2.0 is much less 'smart' and informative without Google Now.
I don't know what all the complaints are about... It's just as useful now as it's ever been for me. I love it, honestly. Can't use anything else as it doesn't feel natural.
Totally agree, it's a shame. The stories on the feed are repetitive, out of date and despite trying to configure it you still get the same boring stories.
agreed, for me they are also usually from weird sources.
You can't say that Google Now is Useless,,, Only 20% of android users using Android N or above version in their phones. And Assistant is not supported for Android N below devices. So they are still using the Google Now.
I use Google Now and it still provides ALL of the information and functionality that most here, including the author, complain that it doesn't. I'd be a mess if it didn't as I use it numerous times a day. It tells me of upcoming appointments, travel times, when to leave to the airport to catch a plane, and gives tracking info on my weekly incoming packages. Maybe it is launcher specific? I don't use Google launcher, rather I use Action and installed Google application separately. Galaxy S8+. I do agree that the Google Assistant is weak in comparison though.
Agree with everything you said. I want google now back!
I totally agree Martin
Your right. I never noticed that. Even though Ive only had my note 8 for about a week I never get anymore calendar reminders or bill pay reminders as well as other things.
Well said. I miss google now. Google assistant isn't a replacement for that feature set in my mind. :(
I hate the Assistant. Google Now was infinitely better.
I completely agree with you Andrew. I can't believe that Google is ignoring one of the best features that Android had. It made getting my daily news so much easier than now. Tons of crap I'm not interested in keep popping up. Before my news feed was perfect. Hopefully someone at Google is reading thru the comments and decided to get his head out of his ass and fix this issue.
I use both daily. Google Assistant is my go to helper for voice assistantce and doing tasks. Google Now/Google Feed is where I get my news and things like where my car is parked, appointments, deliveries etc. They both compliment each other still bit are definitely becoming more and more fragmented Then there's Bixby that's just far too unreliable yet but I use her for my phone settings and Reminders because Samsung Reminders is much netter than Google and its easy to set up location based reminders not only for arriving at destinations but for leaving them too much like on iOS.
I tried everything to get rid of Now and Assistant without success, of course. If I can't choose what I want to see, or choose if I want too see anything at all, I'm not happy with anything Google nails into/onto my phone. Ditto with Flipboard and Blinkfeed. I loved HTC phones until Blinkfeed became uncontrollable.
Any good replacement?
"Google Now no longer shows me a single piece of information on appointments, calendar events, commute times or anything of the sort. I rarely get reminders for upcoming events or bills or other information from Gmail" I couldn't disagree with this more. I don't know what is going on with your feed but I still use it all the time. Everything you said here I have the opposite experience. The change I don't like is not having everything on the same screen. The weather is now a small card at the very end of the first screen and my calendar appointments are in the separate tab. The news aggregator is fine. There are some misses but not obnoxious so. My main gripe is how it is laid out. Everything used to be group together and now it's not.
Before a fanboy (or should that be fanperson to be PC!) goes off on one, I have a foot in both camps (Note 8 & iPhone X). I used the Nexus line of phones because I wanted a clean android experience. I patiently waited for an excellent (not mediocre or it'll do) replacement for my 6p. When Google launched the 2XL I thought these guys should stick to software and bought the superb Note 8. Now I'm beginning to think Google ain't so good at software too! Well they are good, but they seem to suffer from attention disorder and abandon products at the drop of a hat with zero consideration for the users. They are extremely fickle and because of that unreliable. It's a gamble to invest in pure android and I'm now beginning to realise why the likes of Samsung invest so heavily in creating their own version of Google software. Apple hardware may not have reached the pinnacles of Samsung, but their eco system is second to none, a compelling argument and why people continue to buy and favour Apple phones!
Try using a pixel device before commenting on how much better Apples eco system is. Thats the only fair way to compare the google eco system to Apple's. And I'm not sure how investing in pure android is a gamble. That is an odd statement. And lets be fair - Apple has dropped useful features out of their os many times before or been superslow to adopt features everyone else has had for awhile. Google now wasn't a requirement to use your phone, and many people don't use it. It is still is there just doesn't incorporate your appointments anymore. Pluses and minuses to both, and it mainly comes down to preference at this point.
I used to love Google feed, but after the last update it's just useless. As a protest to Google I shut it off.
Agree
I miss how it used to work, you spoke well for me on this issue.
Does anybody just know what to do anymore or does everyone now need a box to tell them? Seems like de-evolution to me.
I have never liked how GNow *forced* "news" in, when I keep saying "never show stories from this source" because they won't let me say "never show stories from anyone".
Use Microsoft Launcher & / or Cortana
Google Now is still relevant, and it updates daily for me. Not sure about the angst. I don't use the assistant that much...
So disappointed. I use multiple android devices and loved Google now launcher. Now I can't make my oneplus look like my pixel or nexus. And I blamed oneplus.
A disgrace! Google Now was so good, notifications (therefore also shown on Android Wear) were perfect. Now, everything is gone and there is NOTHING I can use instead. For some 5-ish countries, there is Google Assistant, but for the rest of the world it's just GONE!
I use Now all the time. I dont use assistant, never have. Also, I've never used the Google Now Launcher because you can access Now with Nova Launcher. this article is stupid.
This is my biggest complaint with Google - they like to randomly sunset popular applications/features in favour of newer, less-capable apps. Boo.
Voice assistants are nearly useless to me. I work fulltime. I can't talk to my phone at work where it would disturb everyone in the room and let them know I am searching for a new job! I can't talk at home where my wife is such a light sleeper that if someone drops a pin across the street she wakes up. I don't want to be one of those obnoxious people talking to their phone in a restaurant, like the lawyer I had to listen to one day talking to his client about intimate legal proceedings. In short, I almost never want to talk to my phone. I want to type in a question and/or see useful information that is personalized. And, Now was always forcing stories into my feed I didn't want and wasn't interested in, like nonsense from rightwingnut websites. No matter how many I dismissed they would find new ones to force feed my feed with.
I honestly thought about installing the Google now launcher on my LG V30. Coming from a line of Nexus devices, I always liked the aptness of Information being delivered right when I needed them.
Sad to see, that Google Now is dying.
I completely agree with this article. Google Now was awesome tool and it has almost completely disappeared from use. It should be brought back and integrated into Google Assistant.
I really do not like Google Assistant. It seems like a simple search from Now has turned into an event with Assistant. I just want Now back and working for me!

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