Google Assistant lives on multiple devices, from smartphones to monitors and cars. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an independent application for your PC? Google has not yet launched an Assistant desktop application, but thanks to developer Melvin L. Abraham, we now have an unofficial desktop client.
Available through GitHub, the application brings Google Assistant to your Windows, macOS or Linux PC. Melvin built the client on Electron, like Discord and Spotify, essentially making it a sophisticated web application. To be clear, this is not officially done by Google, so you must proceed at your own risk. But the reward of having Google Assistant right on your desktop can be worth it.
Since this is not an official Google application, the setup process involves a little bit of work. Fortunately, it is well documented and has step-by-step instructions with images. All you need to do is download the application for your operating system on the GitHub page and follow these authentication steps to use Google Assistant.
We were able to successfully configure this on a Surface Pro X, which runs Windows 10 on ARM (since there is no client for Windows 10 on ARM, however, it will run the x86 version through emulation). Since it is authenticated to our Google Account, we can control Google Home devices directly from a PC. Of course, we could do this easily from a smart phone or speaker, but it’s convenient to have it right on the desktop.
Android Police notes that to use Melvin’s Google Assistant app, you’ll need to register for a Google Cloud account. Basically, you are registering your own project with Google to use the API Assistant, which Android Police notices may be against Google’s terms of use. This means that the application can stop working at any time.
Once successfully installed on your device, the Assistant client offers very robust functionality. And there are some settings to adjust, including the ability to start at startup and change the theme of the application. It is not perfect, however, and does not match what you would get from something like a smart display. There is no constant listening mode, for example, and ongoing conversation is inconsistent, according to Android Police. But it’s a pretty solid start.
The Melvin Assistant desktop client is unlikely to inspire Google to build something of its own. But one can dream. The closest we’ll likely get is the Assistant on Chrome OS, something that Google introduced in 2019.