During the SMX convention in Paris last June 9, Google's Director of Conversational Search, Beshad Bezadi, demonstrated Google Now on Tap's contextual awareness and how it seamlessly integrates with your phone's existing apps. The software update is being rolled out slowly and may be available in your location soon.

What contextual awareness essentially means is that Google Now on Tap is able to recognize certain commands based on your location and the information your app is currently running. For example, you can ask Google Now to search for further information using a pronoun if you're currently viewing a person's profile. Bezadi demonstrated this feature on Chrome by asking "how many grand slams has he won?" while viewing information about Stan Wawrinka. Google Now understands that, "he", refers to Wawrinka and will search for the appropriate information. Bezadi also showed how mentioning a restaurant in a chat brings up an information box to access your Yelp app about the restaurant and, in turn, also gives you the option to use your Open Table app for reservations.

During Apple's introduction of their new Proactive Assistant at WWDC 2015, it takes a poke at Google's version by saying that their app does the work without violating your privacy and it is a valid point to raise. But how much of your privacy is really violated? While you obviously can't rely on contextual awareness when asking for information that would require your location, you can still search with your location turned off and you can still browse information incognito. While one can argue that we are constantly under surveillance with the amount of information we consciously and unconsciously, give out through social media, privacy settings can be tweaked in such a way that you can still stay off the grid. Apple's Proactive Assistant will be available in the new iOS 9 that has all the functions of the previous Google Now version. iOS users will also have the chance to try out the contextual awareness function if they download the latest version of Google search.