"Hey Google" now works with your Android apps

Google Assistant helps people get things done every day—and for people using Android phones, mobile apps are often the best way to help with tasks. So today, we’re extending the convenience of simple Assistant voice commands to work with your favorite Android apps.

Opening and searching within Android apps using “Hey Google” is now available to all Assistant-enabled Android phones. This makes everyday tasks within an app much easier thanks to voice. For example, you can now say, “Hey Google, search cozy blankets on Etsy” and get right to what you’re looking for. Or if you’re looking for something (or someone) specific within an app, just say, “Hey Google, open Selena Gomez on Snapchat.” 

But 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. Starting today, you can try doing more using your voice with more than 30 of the top apps on Google Play available in english globally, with more apps coming. 

Here are a few things you can try today: 

And for your most common tasks, you can create custom shortcut phrases. So instead of saying “Hey Google, tighten my shoes with Nike Adapt,” you can create a shortcut to just say, “Hey Google, lace it.” You can explore suggested shortcuts or create your own by simply saying, "Hey Google, show my shortcuts" to get to the settings screen. 

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.