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An activation phrase, like "OK Google," "Hey Siri," or "shut the hell up Bixby," has been a core element of the digital assistant ever since Google started this stuff up years ago. But soon it might not be necessary, at least for specific interactions where it makes sense. A recent app teardown indicates that Google is working on dynamically listening for commands based on recent events, doing away with the need for the precursor command.
'Hey Google' command appears to be working again on some Wear OS watches
Most users say it still hasn't come back
A little while back the signature "hey Google" Assistant commands stopped working on Wear OS watches. Well, that's not completely true: a few months ago it stopped working, and it took that long for enough people to notice that Google said it would do something about it. Based on a few user tests, that appears to be resolved, at least for some devices.
Always-listening voice assistants, like Google Now/Assistant or Alexa, can't really tell the difference between you talking and someone else (unless you have Trusted Voice enabled on Android). Maybe you've watched a few tech videos where someone said "Ok Google," and your phone started talking back.
Google started rolling out a massive improvement to voice search in the Google Search app last week by enabling "Ok Google" hotword detection everywhere. Really cool, but it has been slowly making its way to users on a per-account basis. Tired of waiting? Just a few taps, and you can (maybe) get instant access to the feature. Note: Probably US English only.