Google haas announced today ie 9th oct 2020 that it’s making it possible to use the voice command “Hey Google” to not just open but also perform specific tasks within Android apps.
The feature will be rolled out to all Google Assistant-enabled Android phones, allowing users to launch apps with their voice as well as search inside apps or perform specific tasks — like ordering food, playing music, posting to social media, hailing a ride and more. For example, users could say something like, “Hey Google, search abc on walmart ,” “open Marica carey on Snapchat,” “ or “”find trump news on Twitter .”
While launching Google says these sorts of voice commands will work with more than 30 of the top apps on Google Play in English globally.
Some of the supported apps today include Spotify, Snapchat, Twitter, Walmart, Discord, Etsy, MyFitnessPal, Mint, Nike Adapt, Nike Run Club, eBay, Kroger and Postmates, Wayfair etc.
feature will also allow you to create a custom shortcut phrase instead. To get started with shortcuts, Android users can say “Hey Google, show my shortcuts” to get to the correct Settings screen.
The feature is similar to Apple’s support for using Siri with iOS apps, which also includes the ability to open apps, perform tasks and record your own custom phrase.
With google assitant, the ability to perform tasks inside an app is implemented on the developer’s side by mapping users’ intents to specific functionality inside their apps. This feature, known as App Actions, allows users to open their favorite apps with a voice command — and, with the added functionality, lets users say “Hey Google” to search within the app or open specific app pages.
Google says it has grown its catalog to include more than 60 intents across 10 verticals, including Finance, Ridesharing, Food Ordering, Fitness and, now, Social, Games, Travel & Local, Productivity, Shopping and Communications, too.
Google says it’s building touchpoints in Android that will help them learn when they use certain voice commands.
Google says it also released two new English voices for developers to leverage when building custom experiences for Assistant on Smart Displays.
Google also mentioned that it’s adding screen-sharing to Google Duo, expanding its Verified Calls anti-spam feature to more devices (Android 9 and up), and updating the Google Play Movies & TV app to become the new “Google TV” app, announced last week.
Google is introducing new tools for hearing loss with Sound Notifications and others for communicating using Action blocks, aimed at people with cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, autism, aphasia and other speech-related disabilities.