Pixel 2 bug prevents Google Assistant from working on Bluetooth headphones

Google’s Pixel 2 and 2 XL have had a handful of annoying bugs and flaws since launch, and now there seems to be another one preventing the Google Assistant from being used over Bluetooth headphones. Dozens of people have reported the problem on Google’s support forum, and we’ve experienced it as well. It appears to be happening across many different brands of headphones. The problem has been going on since October, but Android Police just called attention to it.

OK GOOGLE, ——————
The problem occurs when you try to talk to the Google Assistant while wearing Bluetooth headphones with a microphone. While you can activate the Assistant, the microphone seems to go mute right after that, so you can’t actually issue commands or ask it anything. Google issued some bug fixes as part of an update earlier this week, but it doesn’t seem to have done anything for this problem. We’ve reached out to Google for comment but have yet to hear back.

In the scheme of things, this isn’t a huge issue for the Pixel 2, and it seems simple enough that it ought to get resolved in the near future. But it’s still not a great start for the phone and for Google’s ambitions: Google wants more and more people to become reliant on the Assistant, and right now, there are clearly early adopters trying to use it and finding themselves unable to. On top of that, Google’s own Assistant-enabled Bluetooth headphones, the Pixel Buds, are supposed to start shipping soon. It would seem like this bug might get in the way.