PC World - USA (2020-11)

(Antfer) #1
NOVEMBER 2020 PCWorld 19

Google Assistant App Actions brings


voice commands to Android apps
Hey Google, talk to my apps. BY MICHAEL SIMON

G

oogle Assistant can do a lot of
things on our phones, but it’s
not so great at interacting with
our Android apps. Sure you can
ask Spotify to play a song or send a text with
Telegram, but for the most part, apps and
Assistant are mutually exclusive.
That’s no longer the case. As part of its
Google Assistant Developer Day in October,
Google announced that a handful of “your
favorite Android apps” have begun working
with Assistant voice commands, including

Discord, Etsy, MyFitnessPal, Mint, Nike Adapt,
Postmates, Snapchat, Spotify, Twitter, and
Walmart. As long as the corresponding app is
set up on your phone, all you need to do is
summon Assistant and ask to do something
within an app, like ordering pizza on Postmates
or checking an order status on Walmart.
Google is calling the new feature App
Actions, and they’re similar to Alexa Actions. As
Google describes, developers can create
“natural and engaging experiences for users by
mapping their users’ intents to specific

IMAGE: GOOGLE
Free download pdf