If you find yourself frequently calling out "OK, Google" around your Android phone, there may soon be another way to activate the Google Assistant without speaking its name, according to Android 12 code, Google appears to be working on a way to activate the built-in digital assistant without having to speak at all. [Android 12 is expected to add a double-tap back gesture to activate the Google Assistant. Additionally, a power button trigger may be in the works. This is the second time in recent weeks that we have heard of new Google Assistant triggers coming.

These features are not necessarily new, as some phones already support these features (XDA-Developers points out that most are from Chinese phone manufacturers). However, their inclusion in Android 12 means that they will be incorporated into the next version of Android. This feature will join previous methods of silently invoking Google Assistant, such as squeezing the side of the phone (Google has removed this feature from its devices).

XDA-Developers discovered this in code found in the teardown of the latest Google App release. A series of new strings revealed that Google is working hard to implement a new power button trigger in the app. While not all phones that will come with Android 12 later this year will have it, it will probably be rolled out to most devices fairly quickly.

When the new trigger becomes available, it will probably be able to be turned on from the phone's Assistant settings.

It is important to understand that this new option is still very much in development, but that does not mean that Google is not ahead of the curve and ready for users to try it out when it is finished. No concrete announcements have been made yet, but if it is already in the testing phase, as it is in this case, it should be rolled out soon in the near future.

Android 12 is currently under development at Google, and app makers can download the developer version to familiarize themselves with the new features. We expect a full-fledged Android 12 preview at Google I/O next week.