Google Assistant Can Now Access Third-Party Android Apps

At the Google Assistant Developer Day conference, Google rolled out Google Assistant for third-party Android apps to enhance mobile app experience. This feature places Google Assistant in direct competition with Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. 

Voice assistants have transformed and advanced human lives in every possible way. The voice technology has seamlessly integrated into homes, devices, and vehicles and blurred the lines between humans and machines. Popular voice assistants that rule the consumer space include Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana. 

According to Capgemini researchOpens a new window , 70% of consumers will replace their store or bank visits with their voice assistants. The study also outlines that 76% of organizations have yielded high operating benefits due to voice assistants. As voice assistants continue to explode even during the pandemic, tech companies are investing heavily in the voice tech industry. Last month, Amazon’s Voice Interoperability Initiative (VII) welcomed 38 new partners, including Facebook, Garmin, and Xiaomi, to integrate multiple voice assistants and deliver an intelligent customer experience. 

Last week, at the Google Assistant Developer Day digital conference, held on October 8, 2020, Google announced that Google Assistant will now work with third-party Android apps to enhance mobile app experience. Google Assistant-enabled Android phones will let users use “Hey Google” to open, search, and even perform specific tasks within the third-party apps. The feature will be compatible with select third-party Android apps, including Spotify, Twitter, Snapchat, Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair, Discord, eBay, Etsy, Nike Run Club, Nike Adapt, and Mint. 

Adam Coimbra, product manager at Google, saidOpens a new window , “People do a lot more with their apps beyond simply opening and searching within apps, and we want to enable voice commands to those frequent tasks, too. Now you can do things like playing music, starting a run, posting on social media, ordering food, paying back a friend, hailing a ride—the list goes on and on—all with just your voice.” 

This feature is a direct competition to Apple’s Siri Shortcuts. In 2018, Apple rolled out a similar feature for its voice assistant, Siri, to connect to third-party apps. Siri Shortcuts controls iOS apps to open apps, perform tasks, and create custom shortcuts phrases. Also, with this feature, Google might gain more insight into consumer behavior and shopping patterns.

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According to the App Annie reportOpens a new window , monthly time spent in mobile apps grew 25% year over year in Q3 2020. As consumers continue to spend more time in mobile apps due to COVID-19, it has become a requisite for app developers to deliver the exceptional app user experience. With this new integration of Google Assistant and third-party apps, app developers can create natural and engaging experiences for their users. To enable users to perform tasks within the app, app developers can leverage App ActionsOpens a new window , a feature that lets users open their favorite apps with a voice command. 

Baris Gultekin and Payam Shodjai, directors of product management at Google, saidOpens a new window , “With App Actions, top app developers, such as Yahoo Mail, Fandango, and ColorNote, are currently creating these natural and engaging experiences for users by mapping their users’ intents to specific functionality within their apps. Instead of having to navigate through each app to get tasks done, users can simply say “Hey Google” and get the outcome they want – such as “find Motivation Mix on Spotify” using just their voice.”

Google even offers vertical-specific built-in intents (BII) and custom intents, which developers can integrate into their apps and deliver unique app experience. With BII, developers can use Google Assistant to deep-link into their apps in response to user queries. Moreover, Google has grown its catalog to cover more than 60 intents across ten verticals, including finance, ridesharing, food ordering, travel, shopping, and fitness. For example, users can say, “Hey Google, buy accent chairs on Wayfair”, and the BII will directly take the user to the shopping vertical.

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Apps which do match the list of available App Actions BII can create custom intent. With custom intent, developers can extend their app’s functionality to Google Assistant. 

Google has added new improvements to App Actions for better user discoverability, such as better suggestions, shortcuts, and customization.

Coimbra saidOpens a new window , “Whether you want a hands-free way to use your apps or shortcuts to complete common tasks, we want to make Android and your apps even more useful and convenient—and to give you time back to enjoy what matters most.”

Voice assistants have ingrained into human lives on a large scale. From browsing products, placing orders, booking appointments, making payment, voice assistants have added convenience to human lives. With tech companies working on bringing human-level conversational abilities to voice assistants, Google’s new feature not only aims to transform the Android user experience but also give a fierce competition to Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. 

How does Google assistant help you in your daily tasks? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!