For years now, Google has touted its on-device processing for all kinds of Assistant-capable devices: smart speakers, Pixel phones, Android Auto, and yes, Wear OS watches too. All of these claims make very little difference from a user perspective, though, because Google Assistant just zones out whenever it has no internet access.
When you’re offline, Assistant grinds to a halt on any phone, speaker, or smartwatch.
If your Nest Audio is offline, it can’t answer a simple question like “What time is it?”. If your Google Pixel is offline, Assistant can’t turn on the flashlight. If your Pixel Watch is not connected, Assistant can’t set a 10-minute timer. Even if Google can process your voice locally and understand what you’re saying, it needs to send that request to a server — either directly via Wi-Fi or indirectly through Bluetooth to an online phone — to fetch the appropriate answer or action. So when you’re offline, everything grinds to a halt. Summoning Google’s voice assistant results in an error and you can’t even begin to say your request.