Gboard for Pixel 5, Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a adds ‘enhanced voice typing’ with Assistant

Gboard's latest feature is integrated with Google Assistant for voice commands that can be used while typing.

Gboard logo. (Google Play Store)

Google has started rolling out an “enhanced voice typing” feature on Gboard for the Pixel 5, Pixel 4a and Pixel 4. The new Gboard feature works with the updated Google Assistant, and it has started showing up for some Pixel 5, Pixel 4a and Pixel 4 users.

Gboard's latest feature is integrated with Google Assistant and it's highlighted as “Save time typing”, as reported by 9to5Google. This feature lets users give Assistant commands for actions like “clear” while typing. So now you won't have to hit the backspace button to delete messages while you dictate them. Gboard users will have to turn this feature on which is available under voice typing on the app's settings menu.

For now the only voice command that works is clear, as highlighted by Google. But other options like send should also work with this feature, the report added. In addition to enhanced voice typing, Gboard has also added auto punctuation. As the name suggests, this feature will automatically add punctuation while dictating. Previously, users had to dictate the punctuation words like period, comma, question mark, and more. With this new feature, Assistant will automatically add punctuations wherever required. 9to5Google tested this out and said that “it works quite well.”

Google has also tweaked the voice typing UI a little bit. There's now a Google Assistant light bar that slides from the sides of the screen, and also shows a visual confirmation at the bottom of the screen.

The new feature is currently limited to the Pixel 4, Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 smartphones. Also, users will have to download the latest Gboard beta version to experience the new Assistant feature.