Report: The Pixel 4 will let Google Assistant take over when you’re on hold

There are few things more persistently irritating in life than listening to hold music while a business deals with an enormous backlog of callers. The worst ones are the recordings that occasionally break up the music with a recorded message reminding you how important your call is – tricking you into thinking your wait is over.

It looks like Google has a trick up its sleeve to make this a thing of the past, and it’s working on it being a feature for the upcoming Pixel 4 handset. According to a report from 9to5Google, Google Assistant will take over, listening to terrible hold music on your behalf, and alerting you when a real human responds so that you can take over.

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The report comes from a “reliable source familiar with the company’s plans”, and states that it’ll simply be a case of pressing a button to tell the phone you’re on hold. Apparently the feature is “still relatively early in development”, and while it’s pretty clear it will emerge eventually, they’d be “surprised” if it was ready for the Pixel 4 on launch day.

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It wouldn’t be the first time Google has outsourced tedious phone calls to Google Assistant. The Pixel 3 launched with a function that would let Google Assistant deal with telemarketers, providing a transcript of what was said to ensure you didn’t miss anything important. Google has also previously wowed audiences with Assistant’s ability to book appointments – although it was later revealed that at least 25% of the time, humans were doing it on Google Assistant’s behalf. 

Fingers crossed Google Assistant is adept at dealing with hold music. If I never have to listen to HMRC’s two alternating hold tunes ever again, then Google can take my money right now.

Would you trust Google Assistant to take over when you’re on hold? Let us know on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.