When people use their mobile devices, they often want to minimize the use of data. Not everyone has unlimited data, so they want to make sure they are conserving it as well as possible.

Some people might wonder, then, if Google Assistant uses mobile data.

Does Google Assistant Use Mobile Data?

Google Assistant does use mobile data. However, the amount that it uses is relatively low. If you find that an unexpectedly high amount of data has been used when you have been taking advantage of Google Assistant, there could be another explanation.

In this article, we will cover more about Google Assistant and its usage of mobile data, read on. You will learn some tips that will help you navigate your devices more effectively.

What Is Google Assistant?

Google Assistant is comparable to Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. It was launched in 2016 and is now perhaps the most dynamic of all of these virtual assistants.

Google Assistant has become a very versatile voice assistant. Whether you use voice or text, Google Assistant will follow the conversation.

Google Assistant offers a variety of voice commands, as well as voice-activated device controlling voice searching. You can use it to do many different tasks. It actually gives you conversational interactions while helping you do these tasks. Google Assistant has the following capabilities:

• Control of your devices and smart home
• Access of your personal information, such as information from your calendars
• The ability to seek information online, including weather, news, directions, and more
• Control of your music
• The ability to play content on compatible devices, such as a Chromecast
• The ability to give you reminders and run timers
• The ability to send messages and make appointments for you
• The ability to open apps on your mobile device
• The ability to provide you with real-time spoken translations and read any notifications you have
• Providing you with games that you can play

Many people think that you have to say “Hey Google” in order to make further requests after your initial one.

However, because of Google Assistant’s continued conversation capabilities, it will actually listen for a response without needing any particular trigger phrase.

In addition, Google is capable of recognizing voice profiles for multiple people, so it will know who is using it and will come up with responses accordingly.

It will get to know you in a certain way and understand your context, allowing it to react in a smart way. This will give voice control quite a bit more power and more ability to help you.

You can control many devices within your home, such as lights, heating, and more, as long as the devices are compatible with Google Assistant in Google Nest.

Some people may confuse Google Assistant with Google Home, but they are actually two different entities.

Google Assistant is part of the voice-based assistant that is behind Google Home. Google Home controls many different smart home devices, using Google Assistant as a liaison.

While Google Assistant is the voice behind Google Home, it can do more than just work with Google Home. It has many functionalities that involve converting your voice commands into actions.

Does Google Assistant Drain Mobile Data?

Google Assistant uses mobile data. However, if you are concerned about it using large amounts of mobile data, it typically does not.

If it is functioning through Google Home, it only uses a small amount of data to control all of the devices with which you are trying to work.

Google Assistant needs a connection to the internet in order to work. You will need Wi-Fi or data in order to expect Google Assistant to do its job properly.

If you are using Google Assistant in conjunction with Google Home, for example, you should know that Google Home is not going to do anything online.

Google Assistant will not even exhibit the same capabilities when you are offline, as it will often have trouble recognizing your voice commands when it is not connected to the internet.

You should be aware that Google Home and Google Assistant do not use a lot of data or take a lot of traffic.

In order to control all of the devices in your home, only a tiny amount of data is needed.

However, depending on how many connecting devices you have, you may end up using more data than the typical amount.

For example, you will need more bandwidth to operate more devices using Google Assistant. The actual amount of data that is used could be about 5 to 10 percent of the amount of data that is taken from your monthly limit because the interaction doesn’t happen consistently. Bandwidth is not generally utilized at the maximum potential.

Potential Reasons for High Amounts of Data Usage

There are several reasons why you would be dealing with an abnormally high amount of data usage with Google Assistant.

Playing Music

If you listen to a lot of music, you likely consume a lot of data. Even if you are only listening to MP3 versions of your music, you could be consuming at least 100 megabytes per hour.

Particularly if you are using a video screen to listen to music, you could be using even more data.

Defective Smart Devices

If you are dealing with a defective smart device, this could be boosting your data usage.

Sometimes, it is a software crash or some sort of software update crashed that could be consistently attempting to download files. This can consume more data than you know.

You might be able to find which product is defective by turning each one on and off while monitoring how much data is being used over a set amount of time.

Continuing Video Streaming

If you have many video streaming devices in your home that are connected to Google Assistant, such as video enabled doorbells, baby monitors, and security cameras, these can consume quite a bit of data as well.

You will need to check their video stream settings if you want to make sure you are using the minimum amount of data. The default can be 1080p.

If this is the case, you can decrease this to a lower value and adjust the settings, so that you are consuming a smaller amount of data.

Hacked Smart Home

There are some cases where Google home could get hacked by a Trojan or virus that could continually be feeding data into an external server.

If this happens, you will see an increase in the data you are using during the months when your system is infected.

If you suspected something like this could be the case, what you should do is reset all of the devices that are connected to Google Assistant and Google Home and reinstall everything on them.

What Google Assistant Can Do Offline?

Google Assistant can sometimes respond when you are offline, but its functionality will be very limited. For example, you will only be able to use it to access things that are already downloaded on your phone.

Additionally, Google’s voice recognition will likely not be as accurate without a connection to the internet. You may be able to work around this a bit by speaking very clearly, but the capability is definitely weakened.

Here are some of the things that you may be able to do with Google Assistant when you don’t have an internet connection:

• Play music, but only with songs that are already downloaded to your phone.
• Open an app by name with the command, “OK Google. Open my Photos.”
• Add events to your calendar with the command, “OK Google. Add an event to my Calendar.” You will be prompted for the name of the event, date, and time, just as you would when you were online.
• Send text messages and make calls to your contacts using the associated commands from Google Assistant. This will work with your phone if you still have phone service, even if you have lost your Wi-Fi or mobile data connection.
• Toggle settings that you have on your phone on and off, such as Wi-Fi and airplane mode.
• Adjust the volume of your phone and the brightness of your screen.
• Set alarms on your phone.

Even though Google Assistant can be quite impressive even when it is not connected to the internet, its abilities are very limited when it is not connected to either data or Wi-Fi.

If you truly want Google Assistant to be worth having, you will need to have some sort of connection to the internet.

If you want to use mobile data in order to connect with Google Assistant, you can do so.

Alternatively, if you are in a location with Wi-Fi, you can use that instead in order to connect. It would be accurate to say that mobile data is an option for you to be able to interact with Google Assistant, but it is only one option.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, Google Assistant is very useful. However, it can only live up to its potential if it is connected to the internet, through either mobile data or Wi-Fi.

Google Assistant is certainly capable of using mobile data in order to perform all of its functions.

If you want Google Assistant to use less data when you are taking advantage of its functions, you can try to avoid the functions that consume more data, such as playing music.

However, keep in mind that it is definitely beneficial to be able to use mobile data for this purpose since you will not always be able to connect to Wi-Fi.