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My car has Bluetooth, and I use this mostly for phone calls, though occasionally for music. So my phone is paired, and automatically connects to my car when it starts.

Occasionally, while driving, I'd like to use Google Assistant. eg: "OK Google, Note to self..."

Currently this is pretty annoying because I usually don't have the "input" for the sound system set to Bluetooth, yet my phone is trying to route all media audio, including Google Assistant, through Bluetooth. So I before I can use Google Assistant I first have to change the input. Then the car automatically tells the phone to start playing music. I have to then stop the music I didn't want to be playing in the first place. Finally I can use the assistant. Doing all of this while also trying to pay attention to the road and remembering what I actually want to ask the assistant is not fun.

(To make matters worse, it seems my wife's car actually re-sends the "start music" command if there's no audio for a couple of minutes.)

I do not want to completely disable media audio over Bluetooth, as I do use it occasionally.

So what is the solution? Can I have Google Assistant always use the phone's speakers? Can I have the phone ignore "start music" commands via Bluetooth? Something else?

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2 Answers 2

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If you have the newer android 7.0 OS version, yes there is a way:

Go to - Settings -> Sound and Vibration -> Separate App Sound Once there, tap "app" and select "add application", then look for the google assistant app (labeled "Google" with the "G" trademark icon that has a small inner grey circle around it within the app icon bubble).

Set this app up with the audio device "phone", and it should work solely through the phone speaker/mic from then on, even when your car Bluetooth is connected.

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    My phone is running 8.0.0 and there is no "Sound and Vibration" section in the system settings. There is a "Sound" section, but it does not contain a "Separate App Sound" section. I even tied searching for "separate" in the system settings, but there were no results.
    – Laurence Gonsalves
    Oct 19, 2017 at 19:57
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    This answer seems to be device specific, as no device I own has this setting either. You should update the answer to include your phone make and model as it may help someone, although it may not be applicable to the original question (which did not specify make/model of device either)
    – acejavelin
    Oct 19, 2017 at 21:48
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    This is present in my Samsung Note 8. So could be a Samsung specific settings. I did not test it yet.
    – Ayman
    May 2, 2018 at 5:28
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Search the Play Store for the app "Out Loud". Works perfectly.

You can selectively choose which apps you want to always route audio through the phone speaker even when connected to bluetooth. It's great for your problem (interacting with the Assistant) as well as when using Maps' navigation, and even reads incoming texts out loud (just be careful if you have someone else in the car with you!)

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