When Siri launched on iOS, it was the hottest topic in the tech world. However, Google’s voice search soon caught up with and overtook Siri. Now, Google Assistant is the best overall voice assistant on the market. That said, it is not the only voice assistant on the planet, and there are many third-party assistants which can easily replace Siri for you, if you are planning to switch from iPhone to Android. That’s the great thing about Android. Users don’t have to stick with the native service if they don’t want to use it. So, if you want a Siri-like virtual assistant on your Android device, here are 10 Siri for Android alternatives that you can use in 2020.
1. Google Assistant
The most obvious Siri alternative if you are moving from an iPhone to Android is Google Assistant. In fact, even if you are not moving to Android, you can use Google Assistant as it is now available on iOS (Free), and it’s not bad at all. On Android, Google Assistant feels like an assistant with superpowers. Apart from answering general questions and giving access to relevant information such as your daily schedule, upcoming meetings, and more, Google Assistant can also help control your Android device.
My favorite feature of Google Assistant is that it is conversational, a feature other voice Assistants are not good at. For example, I can ask Google Assistant a question like “Who is the president of United States?” and then follow it up with “How old is he?” and the Assistant will answer both questions correctly. It is useful, conversational, and has the entire power of Google Search behind it. You can not go wrong with this one.
Till now we have discussed the voice assistants which are pretty popular as they are made by some of the biggest tech companies in the world. Now, let us check out some of the voice assistants which are not so well known despite being very capable. One of my favorite less known voice assistants is the Sherpa which uses powerful Artificial Intelligence Algorithms based on probabilistic models that predict the information that will interest you.
Robin is an AI-based voice assistant which was developed to challenge Siri and it certainly does that. The assistant is great at answering your questions, giving you direction to your destination, finding restaurants and gas station in your area, giving out traffic alerts, sports score, and much more. As you can guess from Robin’s skills, it’s mainly geared towards people who drive a lot. Its skills are focused on helping people while driving so that they can drive without getting disturbed while being able to interact with their phone.
One of the biggest features of Robin is the ability to dictate and send long text messages. Robin is really good at transcribing what you say and it brings a robust speech-to-text conversion engine. Another good thing about Robin is that you don’t have to leave the app while navigating as it opens the map in the app itself. That said, I did find the app to lag a little bit while using navigation, but your experience may vary. If you drive to work and home then this is definitely worth checking out.
Lyra is a simple and easy to use voice assistant which is very good at doing basic things. The interface of the app is not as pretty as some of the other apps on this list, however, it does get the job done. From answering your questions to searching for videos on YouTube to giving directions, Lyra was able to handle everything I threw at it. Lyra is also good at setting alarms and reminders, taking notes, and translating phrases and words. Lyra doesn’t bring anything unique to the table, however, if you want a no-nonsense user interface where you want the assistant to just answer your questions and follow your commands without having to see automatic suggestions, this is the voice assistant for you.
6. Extreme – Personal Voice Assistant
Extreme is a virtual assistant that replies to your queries like Jarvis. It’s extremely fun to play with it. It is capable of understanding simple conversations and supports multiple languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Chinese, Indonesian, and German, among others. It is also rich in features. It can answer questions from the internet, take your selfie, get daily reports in your areas of interest, control music, call or message contacts, and more. I also love that it not only answers questions but also gives links to webpages with more information. In my testing, Extreme’s performance was really good and I enjoyed using it.
Hound is one of the best Siri alternatives for Android that you can use in 2020. The app supports natural language processing. It means, you can ask questions as you naturally ask other people, and it will understand you. I also love that Hound, like Google Assistant, can understand follow-up questions. You can also ask complex questions, like asking for a restaurant list in your area excluding certain types of restaurants. Other features of Hound include the ability to control music, control apps like Spotify, get answers to trivia questions, set alarms and timers, and more. We compared Hound with Google Assistant and Siri back in 2016, and it has only gotten better with time.
Install: Free
Virtual Assistant DataBot is a fun voice assistant that uses artificial intelligence. Like Extreme, this assistant can answer your questions in its own voice. It can answer your questions, give you news, tell you jokes, ask riddles, get your horoscope, and more. You can also chat and play with the assistant to pass time. It also integrates with third-party apps using its modules thereby enhancing its power. For example, it can create customized multimedia presentations using voice, text, and images. The app is also cross-platform. You can use it on your phone, tablet, and laptop. DataBot is certainly fun to use.
Samsung launched Bixby back in 2017 and it has turned out to be a great alternative to Siri. The only problem with Bixby is that you will need to use a Samsung device to use it and that’s why we are featuring it as a bonus as it won’t work on just any Android device. Bixby has received a lot of flakes from users and reviewers alike, but let me tell you, when it comes to using your hands-free, no other voice assistant can beat Bixby. From launching apps to sending messages to changing settings, Bixby can handle anything. In fact, you can even use a chain of commands, (for example, “take a screenshot and post it to Twitter”) and it will execute all the commands in sequence.
While Vani is a not fully-featured personal assistant, it makes handling calls easier. It lets you easily accept, decline, decline calls with messages, and block numbers. The best part is you don’t have to use a keyword to invoke this as you do with other voice assistants. When you are receiving a call, say ‘Hello’ to accept calls, ‘No’ to decline calls, and ‘SMS’ to decline calls with a message. If you don’t like these commands, you can change them in settings. Other features of Vani include caller name announcement, support for themes and live wallpapers, taking calls on speaker, silent calls, and more. Vani might not be a powerful voice assistant, but it does make your life a little bit easier.
Cortana is no longer in active development for Android and iOS as Microsoft has deprecated this everywhere other than Windows. I kept it as a bonus just to let you know this fact. If you are using Cortana, now is the time to start switching to other voice assistants.
Cortana
Microsoft launched Cortana on Android back in 2015 and it has become quite a capable voice assistant since its launch. The biggest benefit of using Cortana on Android is that it can act as a bridge between your Android and Windows device. It’s just like how Siri works on both iPhone and Mac, Cortana will work on Windows and Android. With this cross-connectivity, you get a lot of power. You miss a call on your phone, you will be informed on your PC, you add something to your shopping list on your PC and Cortana will remind you on your phone when you reach the store.
While Siri is not available for Android, and it probably never will, these virtual assistants can get the job done. In fact, both Google Assistant and Alexa are actually way better than Siri. If it could be deeply integrated into iOS, I would happily trade Siri for Google Assistant or Alexa on my iPhone. Apart from those two, there are also various third-party assistants which can serve you well depending on your needs. Do check the list out and let us know which one you chose an why.
