Most Android owners are familiar with the ability to use the phrase “Ok Google” to activate a voice search, dial a phone number, and more. Now Google is beefing up the feature by adding support for third-party apps.
Google today launched the first custom voice actions for Android. Only a handful of apps support the feature out of the gate, including NPR, Flixster, and Shazam. Google says that it plans to expand custom voice actions in the future, though, and it’s letting developers suggest new ways to use the feature.
Here’s the list of custom voice actions and apps that are currently supported:
- Flixster: "Show me Inception on Flixster."
- Instacart: "Show instacart availability."
- Lincoln: "Start my Lincoln MKZ."
- NPR One: "Listen to NPR."
- Realtor.com: "Show rentals near me on Realtor."
- Shazam: "Shazam this song."
- TripAdvisor: "Show attractions near me on TripAdvisor."
- Trulia: "Show homes for sale in Boston on Trulia."
- TuneIn Radio: "Open TuneIn in car mode."
- Walmart: "Scan my receipt on Walmart."
- Wink: "Activate home mode on Wink."
- Zillow: "Show me open houses nearby on Zillow.”
While custom voice actions are somewhat limited to start, the feature itself seems pretty cool. Not only can they save some time since they don’t require you to find a particular app and push some buttons to perform the desired action, but it lets you tell your phone what to do with your voice, and who doesn’t like doing that?
What kind of custom voice actions would you like to see Google add in the future?