Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant – The Master AI App We All Need

We use so many different apps on our phones everyday – one for web browsing, another for booking cabs, a third for finding hotels, and so many more! What if there was just one master app that could do all of this for you? Well, that’s exactly what Perplexity AI has come up with. Perplexity AI, known for its AI search engine, has just launched its AI-powered mobile assistant that can run all kinds of errands on your phone as you ask it to. With agent-like features, this AI assistant can search the web, find you a restaurant, make reservations, and book you a cab to get there – all with a single command! So, let’s explore its features and find out what all it can do.

What is Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant?

Perplexity now offers an AI assistant to its android users through its mobile app. This new agent-like assistant automatically does tasks based on voice commands. Apart from just browsing the internet and answering questions, the Perplexity app can now access other apps on your phone and run errands on your behalf – if you ask it to. Perplexity’s AI assistant currently has access to web browsers, Uber, OpenTable, Spotify, YouTube, and more – which facilitate most everyday tasks.

The Perplexity Assistant is currently available for free on the Google Play Store and supports 15 different languages. The company will soon expand its service to iOS devices, which is awaiting approval from Apple.

How to Access Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant?

Users can enable the Perplexity AI assistant simply by setting it up as their default mobile assistant. They can then interact with the assistant through voice commands, gestures, and even the device’s camera.

Applications of Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant

Here’s a list 10 everyday use cases of Perplexity AI’s mobile assistant:

1. Find events, activities, venues, and restaurants.
2. Make restaurant reservations.
3. Book cabs.
4. Set reminders.
5. Draft emails and messages.
6. Summarize information.
7. Ask questions about objects using your camera.
8. Get answers based on content displayed on your screen.
9. Automate scheduling and reminders based on your activities or preferences.
10. Open apps and run searches and other errands on your phone.

Now let me show you what happened when I tried some of these out.

Task 1: Ride Booking

First, I checked if Perplexity AI’s mobile assistant can actually access external apps. I asked it to book me a cab on Uber, and here’s how that went.

The AI assistant opened the app, put in my current location (which, by the way, it remembered from my first try) and destination by itself, and showed me the available options.

Task 2: Camera Feature and Visual Analysis

Now to experience its agentic features, I asked the AI assistant to search

To test it’s visual skills, I asked the assistant to take a picture of the notebook in front of me and tell me what’s written on it. It opened its camera feature, took a photo, read the handwritten text, and even explained it to me. The chatbot was also able to read and understand the diagram drawn on the book.

I then gave it a follow up task to give me a summary of the content in text format, which it did. Pretty smart!

Task 3: Searching the Web and Making Reservations

For the last bit, I asked Perplexity to find me the best Sushi restaurant around and then asked it to make a reservation. It did the web search, suggested the top options, and when I made my choice, it headed to OpenTable to book a table!

Wasn’t that just fab!

Key Features of Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant

Perplexity AI’s mobile assistant boasts 6 key features:

1. Integration with Apps: It connects with various applications on your device to perform multi-app actions efficiently. This includes creating calendar events, setting up reminders, or syncing with messaging platforms.
2. Multimodal Capabilities: Users can interact with the assistant in various ways, including voice commands and camera input. This allows the assistant to analyze surroundings and provide relevant information or actions based on not only what it hears, but also what it sees.
3. Contextual Awareness: The assistant maintains context across interactions, enabling users to seamlessly follow up on previous requests. For example, if a user is researching restaurants and decides to make a reservation, the assistant can facilitate that process without needing to start over.
4. Web Browsing Capabilities: It can browse the web to gather information needed to complete tasks. This comes handy to get a summary of the day’s news or to find nearby events.
5. User-Friendly Interface: Upon updating the Perplexity app, users will see an intuitive interface featuring a redesigned logo. It also comes with visual indicators that show when the AI is listening and processing requests.
6. Language Support: The assistant is available in 15 languages, including English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and more, making it accessible to a diverse user base.

Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant vs Existing Mobile Assistants

When compared to existing mobile assistants such as Siri, Bixby, and Alexa, Perplexity’s mobile assistant offers more functionality. While assistants like Siri and Bixby primarily rely on voice and text inputs, Perplexity’s multimodal capabilities expand its applications. For instance, its camera feature lets users get information on visual inputs. Also, Perplexity AI’s mobile assistant integrates with more third-party applications as compared to most other assistants.

Perplexity AI Mobile Assistant vs OpenAI Operator

Launched soon after OpenAI’s Operator on ChatGPT, Perplexity AI’s mobile assistant does offer a lot of similar features. Firstly, they are both AI-powered task automation chatbots. Both of them have access to web search and third-party applications for seamlessly executing tasks. However, Perplexity AI focuses on providing a user-friendly mobile assistant with strong contextual awareness and multimodal interactions. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Operator excels in automating web-based tasks through sophisticated GUI interactions and simultaneous task handling.

Also Read: ChatGPT Operator & Tasks – Is This the End of Agentic Platforms?

Here’s a detailed comparison of both these tools.

Conclusion

Perplexity AI’s mobile assistant is definitely a game-changer in the world of mobile apps and AI assistants. It combines advanced AI features with a user-friendly interface to simplify daily tasks through intuitive interactions. With its multimodal capabilities, seamless integration with various applications, and contextual awareness, it stands out as a strong competitor to existing assistants like Siri and Alexa. Even with OpenAI’s Operator around, Perplexity’s assistant proves to be a valuable tool for everyday life.

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K.C. Sabreena Basheer

Sabreena Basheer is an architect-turned-writer who's passionate about documenting anything that interests her. She's currently exploring the world of AI and Data Science as a Content Manager at Analytics Vidhya.