This week Google released Chrome 46, bringing with it a number of changes including the quiet removal of OK Google as a way to trigger voice search.
The removal came without any announcement from Google. The change was first spotted by VentureBeat, who reached out to the company for an explanation of why the feature was removed.
According to Google, the feature was removed on Chrome for desktop due to low usage. Since few people were using “OK Google” on desktop, perhaps Google didn’t feel the need to make a point of announcing it had been removed.
OK Google has been built into Chrome since May 2014, and the decision to remove it will only affect desktop searchers. The feature will still be included in Chrome for mobile devices and Chromebooks.
Further, voice search on Chrome for desktop can still be triggered manually by clicking on the familiar mic icon in the search box.
Google made a similar decision to remove the Notification Center from the latest version of Chrome for desktop, also citing low usage.
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