audible response to "hey google" stopped working

[dottore]

An audible response to "Hey Google" is important to me. I use it to find my phone or to check to see if I remembered to put it in my backpack. It's just a beep, but it's darned useful.
Yesterday it stopped working. When I say "Hey Google" there's a pop up that says "how can I help" but no beep. I can't figure out what changed.
My last software update was March 26 to version S901USQSBEYC1. I'm on a Samsung S22. My only change is that in the last few days I have begun using Whatsapp.
Here are the settings I have checked to try to fix the problem. I hope someone has an idea of what happened.

Settings->Google->All Services->Search Assistant and Voice->Google Assistant->Accessibility
On this page Mic-open Notification and Mic-close notification are both on. I have tried turning them off and restarting and then turning them on and restarting again. not successful.

Settings->accessibility->Installed Apps
Last Pass, Link to Windows and Voice Access are ON, other apps are off. I tried turning off Voice Access, restarting, then turning it back on and restarting. not successful.

Settings->Apps->Assistant->Notifications
notifications are blocked, but the switch is greyed out. there is a message that all notifications are blocked for this app. Maybe this is the problem??? But I haven't been able to find a way to turn notifications on for Assistant.

One other thing, just so you know. If I say "Hey Google" followed by something like "tell a joke", Assistant tells the joke audibly. In other words the speaker works, the volume is not turned off.

and I've restarted about a dozen times, so please don't suggest that unless it's a restart after trying some new setting changes.

OK that's all I can think of right now. I've done the usual google searches to try to find a solution, but I give up and am hoping that one of you more experienced android users will have some ideas.

I hope I've provided enough information. please let me know if there is something else I should provide so you can understand the problem.

thanks in advance.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Not that the assistant is useful anymore anyway but I'm the same way and this worked for me. I'm going off memory so it may be slightly different.

Go into accessibility , installed apps turn on Voice Access and Switch Access, if you're missing Switch Access , download it from the Play Store it's by Google no 3rd party crap-app. One of the two once enabled will pull up a menu with connection options. Bluetooth , USB. Something like that. Close it with the 'x' at the top right or home if there's no x. Can't remember.

Summoning the now dumb as concrete Google Bloat dings as it has in the past.

 

[dottore]

Thanks, I tried what you suggested. Including restart after enabling Switch access. no luck. still won't give me the ding.
I never had to enable switch access in the past, enabling voice access was enough.
But thanks for trying.

please note that the "ding" worked until yesterday. No software updates in the last month, no new apps, just the new use of whatsapp, which may have nothing to do with the problem.

I must have accidentally enabled/disabled something, just don't know what it was.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Thanks, I tried what you suggested. Including restart after enabling Switch access. no luck. still won't give me the ding.
I never had to enable switch access in the past, enabling voice access was enough.
But thanks for trying.

please note that the "ding" worked until yesterday. No software updates in the last month, no new apps, just the new use of whatsapp, which may have nothing to do with the problem.

I must have accidentally enabled/disabled something, just don't know what it was.

Mine just stopped working one day too.

 

[dottore]

Mine just stopped working one day too.

mine has stopped many times in the past, but I've always been able to find a setting that re-enabled it. this time, I'm stumped. such a simple thing. Just make a noise when I say "hey google". It's enabled, but the software just won't do it for some unknown reason.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

mine has stopped many times in the past, but I've always been able to find a setting that re-enabled it. this time, I'm stumped. such a simple thing. Just make a noise when I say "hey google". It's enabled, but the software just won't do it for some unknown reason.

IIRC, they (Google) is doing what Google does and trying to kill off the bing. Ergo the "finding ways to re-enable it", they don't want us to. Extremely frustrating.

Start looking at other assistants. If you have a Samsung, Bixby is actually useful now but not look into aforementioned other assistants, a Android 15 finally lets us change it. I'm very close to setting it to ChatGPT alongside Bixby.

Alternatively, and I'm the wrong person to ask, you can try Tasker, powerful yet clumsy, or more user-friendly Macrodroid (though it phones home for some reason haven't bothered looking at the packets, just blocked it out right in the firewall) and have a sound of your choice play before and after the Assistant triggers. Then you can also disable those clumsy Accessibility workarounds.

Macrodroid is fairly easy, at least to me and could probably help you out if you get stuck when I have some free time. Tasker gives me PTSD every time I open it.

 

[dottore]

I'm close to dumping this POS phone and getting a flip phone. It's cheaper and I don't need a lot of features. I need a phone and the ability to text. And I need a lot fewer headaches caused by software teams that fix things that aren't broken.
but thanks for your suggestions.

 

[mustang7757]

Go to the Google app to clear its Data and force stop it and set everything up see if u get it to work this way , otherwise uninstall the update don't let it automatically update in play store see if previous version is ok.
Make sure to double check your settings after doing each sometimes they can be disabled.

 

[dottore]

Go to the Google app to clear its Data and force stop it and set everything up see if u get it to work this way , otherwise uninstall the update don't let it automatically update in play store see if previous version is ok.
Make sure to double check your settings after doing each sometimes they can be disabled.

 

[dottore]

Interesting idea. sometimes clearing out data associated with an app will reset things. but...

I was able to shut down both Assistant and Google (Settings->Apps->Google/Assistant->force stop) and clear the data. I then restarted and re-enabled "hey google". Still no "beep" though I get a pop-up and it will respond to verbal commands.

thanks for the idea though, it was a good one.

 

[mustang7757]

Interesting idea. sometimes clearing out data associated with an app will reset things. but...

I was able to shut down both Assistant and Google (Settings->Apps->Google/Assistant->force stop) and clear the data. I then restarted and re-enabled "hey google". Still no "beep" though I get a pop-up and it will respond to verbal commands.

thanks for the idea though, it was a good one.

What about uninstalling the update to the Google app?

 

[dottore]

I didn't uninstall it because the problem started 3 days ago (April 25) and the last update of the google app was april 21. and, to be honest, there is an "uninstall" option, but I didn't see a way to go back to the previous version. Hitting the Uninstall button give me the option of uninstalling ALL updates to the google app, I would be glad to try going back to the previous version if you would help me do that.

 

[mustang7757]

So when you long press the Google app tap info>upper right corner tap and uninstall the update it will say this will take you back to the previous version, just to make sure you're not in Beta for the app ? That you can tell by looking up the app in the play store

 

[dottore]

thanks, but when I long press the google app and tap info in the upper right corner, I get to the settings page for the google app. I then press the 3 dots in the upper right and get the "Uninstall updates" option. when I press that I get a message that says "Replace the appwith the factory version? All data will be lost" I don't care about the data but does this take me back to the previous version? or the one that was installed when I bought the phone 3 years ago? the current version, btw, is 16.15.39ve.arm64

 

[mustang7757]

Yeah it will take you back to the previous version

 

[dottore]

Yeah it will take you back to the previous version

OK, tried that. it took me back to version 15.23.37.28.arm64. After re-enabling Hey Google, making sure that the Mic-open and Mic-close notifications were enabled and then restarting, I still don't get a ding. but Hey google does open Assistant and I can enter voice commands so nothing new is broken.

I'm giving up on this. There may be a solution out there, but I've already spent hours on this, not to mention the time you have spent, for which I thank you. I use Hey Google for two things. 1 - find where my phone is and 2 - when I'm driving I can say Hey Google Navigate to XXXX. 2 still works. And Instead of just saying Hey Google I can say "Hey Google what is 2+2?". It will answer and I will know where my phone is.

not happy, but it works well enough until I buy another phone someday. or until software gets updated or until I have nothing else to do but try other assistants as skycoreaper suggests.

thanks to everyone for trying to help.

A pox on software teams that fix things that aren't broken.