Hey Google, I was using that button!

Illustration of Google’s wordmark, written in red and pink on a dark blue background.
Illustration: The Verge

Every time another Google app or feature bites the dust — even a small, relatively inconsequential one — I get annoyed. Really annoyed.

Here’s the thing: there are Google Assistant-equipped devices in three rooms of my relatively small house: living room, bedroom, and office. Which means, unfortunately, that when I say “Hey, Google” out loud to my phone, I am just as likely to get a reaction from one — or more — of those three devices. (Yes, I know that’s not supposed to happen and no, we haven’t been able to fix it yet.) And they sometimes offer different answers simultaneously, which makes things even more confusing.

This is what I got when I hit the mic icon in Search.

To avoid this unfortunate state of affairs,…

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