Google Assistant Coming to Android Phones Running Marshmallow and Nougat
After being exclusive to the Google Pixel phone lineup, Google Assistant is making its way to Android Marshmallow and Nougat devices starting this week. The news is certainly welcome. Google Assistant has expanded to being in Google Home, Android Wear 2.0 and Google Allo but for adoption to really take off, it needs to be on phones and not just the latest Google flagship. Google made it pretty clear which devices are going to see Assistant. First, it has to be running Android Marshmallow or Android Nougat. If you are running Lollipop or earlier, you are not going to get the update. Second, your phone has to be running Google Play Services. The vast majority of devices out there do run Play Services but you can check on your phone by going to Settings>Apps then tap the Show Systems option in the menu then scroll down and it (they are in alphabetical order).
Assuming your phone meets these two criteria, Google Assistant will automatically be pushed to your phone via Play Services.