Sony headphones to lose Google Assistant support on iOS from next week

Google brought Assistant to iOS in 2018, with the digital assistant arriving on iPadOS too. However, the feature is set to disappear for iOS and iPadOS when using headphones. While Google added a support document to its Google Assistant documentation earlier this year, companies like Sony only informed people last week.

As the screenshot below shows, Sony will remove Google Assistant functionality via an update to its Headphones Connect app. Once updated, the app will prevent you from assigning Google Assistant as your voice assistant on headphones and earbuds like the WH-1000XM4 or WF-1000XM4.

Based on Google's support document, this functionality will cease on December 7. Specifically, you will be unable to use the following Google Assistant headphone features after that date:

• Hear Spoken Announcements of incoming phone notifications.
• Talk to the Assistant when you hold the Assistant button on your headphones.

Google is not removing Assistant from iOS or iPadOS completely. As far as we can tell, the standalone Google Assistant app will remain in the App Store, but without any headphone functionality.

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