Google Assistant is the most popular and most used voice assistant in the world. However, it is available on a wide range of products like smartphones, smart speakers, smart screens, and other smart home devices, but desktop support is an old issue. Google didn’t show any interest in bringing Assistant to laptops and desktops, but it is available on Chromebooks. Well, if you are looking for a way to use Google Assistant on PC like Windows, Linux, and macOS, you are at the right place. An Indian named Melvin. L Abraham has developed an unofficial platform, Google Assistant desktop. We will show you some steps that can be helpful for you to configure Google Assistant on your Windows, macOS, and Linux PC.
Steps to use Google Assistant on PC:
Step 1. Registering Your Device to Use Google Assistant on PC
First of all, you need to download the latest version of the desktop client from GitHub. You can download a version based on your operating system.
- After downloading, install the Assistant app on your system. However, it won’t work on your PC at this stage, and you will need to configure the backend first. To do this, open the Action Console through your browser and then click on New Project. You need to sign in through your Google Account for accessing Actions Console. You need to review Google’s Terms of Use and click “Yes” and then “Agree and continue.”
2. Once the New Project pop-up will appear, enter the new project name and choose language and region. After filling in all the details, you need to click on the “Create Project” button.
3. Right after creating a project, you will see a screen to configure it. From here, you will need to scroll down, and you will see the device registration option. After that, you need to click on the “Click here” hyperlink.
4. You will be redirected to the device registration page. Click on the button saying “Register model” to proceed further.
5. You need to enter the product name, device type, and manufacturer name. According to the developer, you can specify any device type. After choosing the device type, you can click on the “Register model” button.
6. Now, this is a vital step where you need to download the key file. It will be a .json file, and you will require this file later for configuring the client. You can click on the “Download OAuth 2.0 ID” button for downloading this file.
Step 2. Setting up a Consent Screen and Enabling Google Assistant API
- You need to open the Google Cloud Platform Console and click on the drop-down menu available at the top left.
2. Next, choose the project you created before. To do so, you need to click on the “All” tab and find the project and click on Open.
3. From the GCP left menu, you need to choose APIs and services for enabling the Google Assistant API.
4. From the dashboard, you need to click on “Enable Apps and Services.” You will be redirected to the API library page.
5. On the API library search page, you can search Google Assistant and choose the Google Assistant API.
6. You can click on the Activate button and enable the Google Assistant API.
7. Once the Google Assistant API page gets open, you can switch to credentials from the left sidebar and then click on “Configure consent screen.”
8. On the OAuth Consent screen, choose Remote as the user type and click Create.
9. When you get on the app information page, choose your email in the support email section.
10. Stay on this page, scroll down to enter your email address in the developer’s contact information box, and click on Save and Continue.
11. There is no need to change anything on the Scopes page. Click Save and Continue to proceed further.
12. The same thing goes for the optional info. Click Save and Continue to proceed further.
13. On the next page, click on Add Users for adding test users.
14. You need to add users through an email address. As the developer suggests, you can add more users by using separate email IDs through commas.
Step 3. Configure Google Assistant Client Authentication
Now, your PC is ready to run Assistant. You have already completed device registration and API configuration. You can use Google Assistant on your PC with the help of some simple steps:
- Open the Google Assistant client you have installed on your PC and go to settings by clicking the gear icon available at the top left.
2. You need to use the OAuth 2.0 credentials .json file that you have downloaded previously. Now, click on the browse button available under Authentication and set the path of the JSON file to “Key File Path.” However, you can leave the Stored token path blank.
3. Once the path is set, click on the Save button.
4. The app will then ask you to enter the saved token path automatically. You can click on the Set a path automatically to proceed.
5. Now, you need to restart the application. For that, you need to click on the Relaunch Assistant button available at the bottom left.
6. When the app reopens, a page will ask you to paste the authentication code. A new approval page will also open in the default browser simultaneously.
7. You need to go to the approval page and select your Google Account to permit.
8. Choose Allow to grant permissions to Google Assistant.
9. The authentication code will appear on your screen; copy the code to the clipboard.
10. Open the client tab and paste the code in the box, and then click submit.
Now, you can restart the Assistant and finally start to use Google Assistant on PC. Click on the Relaunch Assistant button to restart the application.
This guide will help you install and use Google Assistant on Windows, macOS, and Linux PC. Follow the steps mentioned above and enjoy Google Assistant on your PC. If you have any questions or feedback, drop your comments below!
Experiencing difficulties with your Device, check out our “How To” page on how to resolve some of these issues.
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