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At its annual WWDC conference, Apple announced iOS 9, the next level of mobile operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices.While iOS 9 does not offer anything radical in terms of design, the biggest feature in the new OS is what Apple calls ‘Proactive assistance.’
Proactive assistance relies on deep-search linking, along with data from third-party apps to provide results that are most relevant to a user. And it sounds a lot like Google Now. But will it prove to be a worthy challenger to the Google voice-assistant, is the big question.
So what how it work? For starters, Proactive assistance is going to take the place of spotlight search in iOS 9 and it will give users the most relevant information based on the context they put in. For example, it can learn what music you listen to in the gym at what time of day and it will put that on for you when say you plug the iPhone into a set of speakers.
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In addition to this, Proactive will also automatically add invites, reminders to your calendar without a user having to tap and do it themselves. In iOS 9, users also get a more improved and colourful version of Siri. You can now search in natural language on Siri as well. For example you can type sentences like, “Photos I clicked last June” and the voice-assistant will have an answer. In addition, Siri will take reminders, show ‘cards’.
So what is Apple promising that is different with Proactive assistance? In the keynote, Apple took a very clear dig at Google and said they will not compromise user privacy and that the user was clearly in control. Apple says that Proactive assistance is in no way linked to Apple ID, Apple device information.
Read more: Apple WWDC keynote as it happened
Apple adds that searches via Proactive will be anonymous, and not shared with third-parties or linked to other Apple services. In Google Now’s case, it is invariably linked to other Google products and services including your email. Although Apple showed us how Proactive assistance will work and gave demos of the service, but it’s not clear if iOS 9 will offer an option to users to log out of this new service.
Privacy preferences aside, Google Now has seen a big boost in Android M. At the recent, Google I/O conference held on May 28, the search-giant showcased Google Now on Tap. With this users don’t have to leave an app when say they want to search for some information, say about a new restaurant or a movie. In another example, an email from a friend about dinner at a restaurant, will see Google Now prompt a user to make a reservation at the particular place.
What both Proactive assistance and Google Now are offering is to get to know the user better and give suggestions based on habits. Of course, this means that you will end up sacrificing privacy. It could also mean that as these search system evolve, you don’t have to rely on an app for a restaurant search or a Map to look up a place as deep-linking with apps means that the result will just show within the service.
As this Wired piece points out, Google Now is powered by Google’s Knowledge Graph and is getting linked with more and more third-party services which means it could soon make apps obsolete, although it will not necessarily be a bad thing.
Personally I would say that even though I am Apple user, I’ve not relied too much on Siri. Sure in the beginning Siri had a bit of a thrill but after a point it just dies down. Yes you can use Siri to make calls, reply to text messages, even search for Music but like I said I’ve not had too many situations where I felt the need to turn to Siri.
Read more: Apple iOS 9 announced: All the key features you need to know
In contrast, Google Search app on iOS which brings with it the benefits of Google Now has proved to be a lot more useful. From flight alerts to online deliveries, even match scores (when I sign up for these), Google Now ends up offering alerts, ‘cards’ which are just relevant. With proactive assistance, Apple wants to do the same.
In iOS 9, Siri too will start offering suggestions based on which apps you tend to use the most, places that are nearby and also give news “cards” which will offer content based on what you tend to read. As an Apple user, it sounds exciting and it will change the way a user interacts with the iPhone. But that does not mean, I’m going to give up on Google Now entirely.
For Proactive assistance, the challenge lies in beating the power of Google’s search which is considerable at the moment, given how big the Android ecosystem is and the fact that even iOS users have no qualms in signing up for Google Now.
Proactive’s success will depend on how indispensable it becomes in the lives of Apple users. In addition to that, there’s the indisputable fact that even the most hardcore iOS users still rely on Google services, including Google Now. Whether proactive can totally dislodge, Google Now will be the big question.
Read more: Apple Music, iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and everything else announced at WWDC 2015
