Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices

#31

Post by ignoramous » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 11:57 AM UTC

Magicrafter13 wrote: post #24

Dayshine wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just have an always on VPN so can tunnel back to my home assistant server; which can handle todos/reminders/calendar events. Quick messages to contacts I haven't considered.

I already use a VPN (Proton) so I can't VPN back to my home (i.e. Tailscale). A very unfortunate limitation of Android. RethinkDNS has the potential to solve all my problems since it can do per-app proxies, however I've found that it doesn't work well with Proton (or possibly Wireguard as a whole) with frequent proxy disconnects, making it a very painful experience. Which is a shame because in some cases I value DNS…

rdns dev here

The latest version is v055z [0], which handles WireGuard re-connectivity better across a range of providers. One Proton specific quirk we've hit was: Since Rethink lets you connect multiple WireGuards at once, their free tier especially may start rejecting "WireGuard handshakes" from your client, if you do so.

Some tips:

- If you don't mind extra battery use, setup "Persistent KeepAlive" for your all your WireGuard Peers. Any value between 30s to 100s is decent enough.

- Alternatively, if you're on version v055v+, then consider turning on Configure -> Network -> Smart Persistent Keepalive which shouldn't use up as much battery but yet attempt to keep a connection open whenever "user presence" is expected by Rethink.

- Turn on Configure -> DNS -> Split DNS only if you're Android 12+ which has comparatively better APIs to be able to implement per-app split-tunnel DNS across multiple WireGuards.

- Tap on the "Refresh" icon in Configure -> Proxy -> Setup WireGuard to instruct Rethink to attempt re-connections to all dormant Peers.

- Look for internal state in About -> General (scroll to the bottom to the section that goes "WireGuard") and see if you spot any mismatch there with respect to MTU, for example. And if so, consider opening a report on GitHub.

- Look for About -> App Logs and see if you spot any errors (or for warning, info, or debug, you'll have to change the log level when prompted) related to WireGuard. You can use the search bar to filter for "wg", which should keep the output limited to WireGuard stuff.

- Change Configure -> Network -> Choose IP version to "Auto" if you happen to go between IPv4-only / IPv6-only / dual-stack networks, or set it to "IPv4 & IPv6", if you're always on dual-stack networks.

[0] https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app/releases/v0.5.5z

Re: Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices

#32

Post by sehw » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 2:48 PM UTC

yndoendo wrote: post #26

sehw wrote: post #5

I'm switching to Ubuntu Touch btw.

I got a FLX1S from FuriLabs. [0] It currently is my backup and Bluetooth music / audio player. Actually use it more than the Fairphone used for calling. Once some more of the bugs and user experience have been polished, it will be my primary to completely ditch Android. Turns out I like it better with having two devices while travel. One handles music and GPS navigation. While the phone is used as a phone. Only two t…

[dead]

Re: Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices

#33

Post by Magicrafter13 » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:43 PM UTC

ignoramous wrote: post #31

Magicrafter13 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already use a VPN (Proton) so I can't VPN back to my home (i.e. Tailscale). A very unfortunate limitation of Android. RethinkDNS has the potential to solve all my problems since it can do per-app proxies, however I've found that it doesn't work well with Proton (or possibly Wireguard as a whole) with frequent proxy disconnects, making it a very painful experience. Which is a shame because in some cases I value DNS…

rdns dev here The latest version is v055z [0], which handles WireGuard re-connectivity better across a range of providers. One Proton specific quirk we've hit was: Since Rethink lets you connect multiple WireGuards at once, their free tier especially may start rejecting "WireGuard handshakes" from your client, if you do so. Some tips: - If you don't mind extra battery use, setup "Persistent KeepAlive" for your all yo…

Thanks for the tips. I currently have 0.5.5y - I'll update and try these out and see if my experience improves. I also have a paid Proton plan so they shouldn't be rejecting my connections but it's definitely still possible since I think their plans are for "up to 5 devices" or something like that, and I do have a few connections at all times.

Re: Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices

#34

Post by Magicrafter13 » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

pzlarsson wrote: post #25

Dayshine wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just have an always on VPN so can tunnel back to my home assistant server; which can handle todos/reminders/calendar events. Quick messages to contacts I haven't considered.

Last time I tried, Android Auto refused to connect with an error message stating it will not start if VPN is active on the phone.

Works for me in my dedicated Android Auto user profile in GrapheneOS. Proton VPN with 'killswitch' turned on, and I've been able to use Android Auto. Though, I don't think I gave Android Auto network/internet permissions, so it shouldn't know if I'm on a VPN or not. Android Auto doesn't need internet to function (though the apps you run in it might, i.e. Google Maps).