Google removes Smart Reply feature from Voice app

Google (Image Courtesy: AP)

Google has removed the Smart Reply feature from its Voice app on iOS and Android. The feature would look at a message and suggest up to three responses that a user could use.

According to 9to5Google, the updated release notes for Google Voice confirm the removal. "Smart Reply is no longer supported," Google wrote, without giving a reason for junking the feature.

It appears to be a server side change, which means it is gone from all versions of the Voice app.

Users will still be able to see Smart Reply suggestions in notifications but that is an Android-wide feature.

It is possible that the tech giant wants to maintain the feature system-wide on Android instead of per app. It could also be thinking of making it exclusive for its Enterprise plan customers.

Smart Reply will still be available on Google Messages, Gmail and Google Docs, which makes it even more curious as to why would the company go through the trouble of removing it from an app.

Another reason could be that Google doesn't see Voice as a messaging platform and wants to prioritise it as a calling service first.