Google Introduces Custom Voice Actions Like “OK, Google, Listen to NPR” (Updated)

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Google Introduces Custom Voice Actions Like “OK, Google, Listen to NPR” (Updated)

Quietly over on the Android Developers Google+ page, Google announced custom voice actions today for third party apps. They are currently piloting this new integration with select partners like NPR and Shazam, but are actively seeking additional app developers to join in on the fun.

With custom voice actions, you could say something like, “OK, Google, listen to NPR” and watch as it opens up the NPR app to play a new story. Or you could say, “OK, Google, Shazam this song” and your phone will open the Shazam app to figure out what it is. Maybe you need to plan for a trip, so you could go with, “OK, Google, show attractions near me on TripAdvisoer.” You get the point.

At this time, Google hasn’t exactly released a full list of apps that are supported, but we’ll do our best to find them all.

Update: This link shows most of the apps and their commands. It looks like some of the early partner apps are Flixster, TripAdvisor, Instacart, Lincoln, NPR, TuneIn, Shazam, Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com.

If you are an app developer and want to integrate with voice actions, you can talk to Google here.