Google Assistant Is Now Available to More Older Smartphones

Google surprised owners of a number of older Android smartphones and tablets with the sudden release of Google Assistant for their mobile devices.

Several days ago, Google announced that they were expanding the list of Android phones -- and tablets -- that support their version of smart assistant.

In a blog post, the company confirmed that they were adding Google Assistant to devices that were powered with older Android versions such as 5.0 Lollipop which was launched in 2014.

The release of the smart assistant feature will happen in batches, but users with an Android phone on Lollipop in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Spain, and Singapore have already gotten their Google Assistant.

Google also confirmed that the Google Assistant will be available in a couple of languages, such as English for all the mentioned countries and Spanish in Spain and Mexico.

The company mentioned that the release will happen in more countries, including Italy, Germany, Brazil, and Korea. To check if the Google Assistant has been added to an older device, users can look for the app's logo on the "All apps" list in the Settings.

The same post also confirmed that Google will introduce the Google Assistant app on Android-run tablets "over the coming week."

Meanwhile, Google users will recall that the smart assistant app was also previously added to devices running with Android Lollipop's successor, 6.0 Marshmallow, last February.

The move to introduce Google Assistant on more Android devices could also be part of the company's strategy to have a wider ecosystem of devices that people can link to their Google Home product line.

In the earlier days of Google Assistant's release, it was limited to Google-distributed smartphones such as Nexus and Pixel as well as to the company's line of smart speakers called Google Home.