The Dicio Android voice assistant has emerged as a free, privacy-first alternative to Google Assistant, arriving just as Google confirmed it will begin removing Assistant from Android phones, tablets, Wear OS devices, and Android Auto on 4 September 2026, with the removal expected to take a few weeks to reach all users.
Dicio is free and open-source, processes everything on-device, and handles the hands-free calling that Google’s Gemini replacement has struggled to replicate reliably. The one catch: it does not work with Android Auto.
What Dicio Android Voice Assistant Actually Does
Dicio covers a wide range of daily tasks: weather, internet search, song lyrics, opening apps, calculations, navigation via Google Maps, hands-free phone calls, timers, media control, joke-telling, translation, reading notifications, and toggling the torch. In testing, timers, hands-free calls, navigation, and media control via Spotify all worked as expected.
Opening third-party apps is hit-or-miss. Dicio may announce it is opening Spotify, for instance, without the app actually launching. Note-taking does not work, calculations are currently affected by a reported bug, and the app cannot compose or send emails or messages by voice.
The privacy advantage is built into the architecture. Dicio uses Vosk for on-device speech-to-text processing, meaning voice input never leaves the handset. User input arrives via a text box or through Vosk, and the app responds using toasts or the Android speech synthesis engine. According to the app’s GitHub page, Dicio ‘interprets user input and (when possible) generates user output entirely on-device, providing privacy by design.’
The project supports 14 languages, including Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Ukrainian, making it usable well beyond English-speaking markets.
Getting Dicio and the Android Auto Limitation
Dicio is available through the Google Play Store and through F-Droid, the open-source Android app repository, where the current release is version 4.0. Setup involves granting microphone permission, downloading the Vosk speech-to-text model, and configuring a wake-word. The wake word is ‘Hey Dicio’, pronounced ‘diss-eee-oh’.
The project has attracted genuine community interest. On GitHub it has accumulated 1,500 stars, 26 watchers, and 167 forks, and development remains active.
The Android Auto gap is the most practical limitation. Google does not recognise Dicio as a valid voice assistant for Android Auto, which means drivers cannot use it through their car’s display. Cars with Google Built-in will retain Google Assistant beyond the 4 September cutover, but for everyone relying on a phone-projected Android Auto connection, the option disappears. Until Google changes its policy, hands-free calls while driving must be made before connecting to Android Auto.
According to 9to5Google, once Assistant is removed users will not be able to reinstate it, and the removal covers phones, tablets, Wear OS watches, headphones, and Android Auto projected from a mobile device.
The Gemini Pricing Question
Part of the appeal of a free, on-device alternative is uncertainty about where Google’s paid AI tiers are heading. The Google AI Plus plan launched in the United States at $7.99 per month in January 2026, according to TechCrunch. Google subsequently cut that to $4.99 per month and doubled included storage to 400GB, as reported by Engadget following a 8 June 2026 announcement; Google’s own AI plans page confirms the $4.99 figure, with the plan available in over 160 countries. The higher-tier Google AI Pro sits at $20 per month.
The price cut makes Google’s paid tier more accessible, but the structure of tiered AI services still raises questions about how much capability will remain on the free tier over time. If Google moves more features behind a paywall, on-device alternatives that cost nothing and send nothing to the cloud become more attractive by default.
With the September deadline now fixed, Dicio’s Android Auto compatibility is the one issue that could determine whether it becomes a mainstream replacement or stays a power-user workaround. If Google opens Android Auto to third-party voice assistants, the calculus changes immediately.