Waze drops Google Assistant on iOS, promises a better AI assistant soon

Waze has officially discontinued support for Google Assistant on its iOS app, citing persistent integration issues that have lasted over a year. In a Tuesday announcement, the company acknowledged the prolonged inconvenience to users and vowed to release an “improved voice integration solution” soon.

Since Google Assistant was added to Waze’s iOS app in 2020, users have complained of issues like voice command unresponsiveness and non-detection. Despite attempts to fix these bugs, the issue persisted, and therefore, the shift was to drop the feature rather than patch an otherwise buggy system.

Rather than simply patching a feature that has faced ongoing difficulties, we’ve decided to phase out Google Assistant on iOS starting tomorrow and replace it with an enhanced voice interaction solution in the near future.

An advanced AI will replace Assistant

The second voice integration product will leverage advanced AI technologies. Waze has begun testing Conversational Reporting, an artificial intelligence capability that allows users to report accidents using natural language voice commands, further enhancing the hands-free experience for drivers.

Even though Google Assistant will still function on Waze for Android users, there’s no promise that it’ll remain that way in the future, despite the fact they said that it will continue to function the same way:

It’s important to note that Google Assistant will continue to function seamlessly on Waze for Android, where it has consistently performed reliably.

Google recently revealed that it would be swapping out Google Assistant with Gemini, a more powerful AI-driven system, ending Assistant on most phones and removing it from app stores by the end of the year.