Skip to main content

Google Now expanding to third party applications

Google’s voice command feature Google Now is finally open for use by developers in third-party apps. Users on Android will now be able to say “Ok Google” to control and navigate through a growing number of Play Store apps.

Google announced the expansion of the feature in a blog post, saying, “Today, we launched our first set of partners for custom Google voice actions on Android. This feature will enable people to say things like ‘OK Google, listen to NPR’ or ‘OK Google, show attractions near me on TripAdvisor.’”

Recommended Videos

Google’s “OK Google” voice command module has largely been viewed as an answer to Apple’s Siri. By opening its voice command feature to developers, Google is staying one step ahead of Apple, which has yet to allow Siri for use on non-native applications. Google’s voice command service currently recognizes  nine languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian.

What Google’s voice control shares with Apple’s, however, is the goal of integration. Apple has been slowly adding Siri to all of its devices with the aim of reaching total cross-device integration. Google said of the voice command service, “It’s another way to drive usage of your app with Google. Users’ voice and text action requests can now lead directly to your Android app, so they can get to your native mobile experiences quickly and easily.”

So while Google may not be creating a multi-device home platform in the same fashion as Apple, the firm is certainly seeking to streamline processes for both their native and third-party applications. While current implementation is limited, Google Now will be expanding in the coming months as Google opens it up to more projects.

With this new update, it is easy to see why many believe that Google Now has outfoxed Apple’s Siri, and we certainly look forward to saying “Shazam this song!” and then seeing it happen before our eyes.

Andre Revilla
Andre Revilla is an entrepreneur and writer based in Chicago that has been covering and working in the consumer tech space…
Google just leaked images of the upcoming Android redesign
Design elements Google Material 3 Expressive.

Google is due to unveil its new "Material 3 Expressive" design system at I/O 2025 this month, but someone at the company accidentally published a blog post about it this week. It was promptly deleted but the Wayback Machine already archived it and the quick-thinking folks at 9to5Google saved the images as well.

The blog post itself was all about the research that went into the new design system for Android 16. Google spent three years carrying out various studies and experiments with over 18,000 participants, including:

Read more
If you don’t already use Google to scan documents, this update makes it a must
Cleanup feature for document scan on Pixel phones.

A fresh Google update has quietly rolled out which makes scanning documents with your phone, specifically with Google Drive, better than ever.

Google already lets you scan documents using your smartphone camera combined with the power of its various apps. These include Google Drive, Files by Google and the Pixel Camera app.

Read more
Pollen got you sniffly? Google Pixel Weather can now help with that
Google Pixel showing the Google Pixel Weather app.

When the pollen count is up, for many people that means breathing quality is down. Getting a heads-up on that, and being prepared, can make all the difference. This is why Google Pixel Weather can help.

Google has begun rolling out a new update to Pixel Weather which means it can now offer a pollen tracker feature across the wider U.S.

Read more