Google Assistant lives on a lot of devices, from smartphones to displays to automobiles. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a standalone app for your PC? Google has yet to release an Assistant app for desktop, but thanks to developer Melvin L. Abraham, we now have an unofficial desktop client.
Available via GitHub, the app brings Google Assistant to your Windows, macOS, or Linux PC. Melvin built the client on Electron, like Discord and Spotify, essentially making it a fancy web app. To be clear, this isn’t officially made by Google, so you should proceed at your own risk. But the reward of having Google Assistant right on your desktop might be worth it.
Because this isn’t an official app from Google, the setup process involves a bit of work. Fortunately, it’s well-documented and has step-by-step instructions with pictures. All you have to do is download the app for your OS from the GitHub page and then follow these authentication steps to use Google Assistant.
We were able to successfully set this up on a Surface Pro X, which runs Windows 10 on ARM (since there isn’t a client for Windows 10 on ARM, though, it’ll run the x86 version through emulation). Since it’s authenticated to our Google Account, we were able to control Google Home devices right from a PC. Sure, we could just as easily do that from a phone or smart speaker, but it’s convenient to have right on the desktop.
Android Police notes that in order to use Melvin’s Google Assistant app, you’ll need to register for a Google Cloud account. You’re essentially registering your own project with Google so you can use the Assistant API, which Android Police warns might be against Google’s terms of use. That means the app could stop working at any moment.
Once successfully installed on your device, the Assistant client offers pretty robust functionality. And there are quite a few settings to tweak, including the ability to launch on startup and change the app’s theme. It’s not perfect, however, and doesn’t quite match what you’d get from something like a smart display. There’s no always-listening mode, for example, and Continued Conversation is inconsistent, according to Android Police. But it’s a pretty solid start.
It’s unlikely Melvin’s Assistant client for the desktop will inspire Google to build something of its own. But one can dream. The closest we’ll probably get is Assistant on Chrome OS—something Google introduced back in 2019.
