In this article, we will discuss how you can add third-party shortcuts to Google Assistant. It is a powerful virtual assistant that helps users accomplish a lot of tasks. If we look at the previous in-app integrations of Google Assistant with the third-party apps, it has not been so great. However, this now seems to be changing. Google has now started introducing deeply tied, in-app actions for its virtual assistant.
The recent update of Google Assistant helps users make a call to the in-app actions from third-party sources too. Be it a task of updating your WhatsApp profile picture, opening Instagram’s Explore tab, and more, you can easily accomplish all those with the recent update of Google Assistant.
Follow this article to the end to know the steps related to browsing and adding the third-party shortcuts to Google’s virtual assistant.
Add Third-party Shortcuts to Google Assistant
You need to follow the below-mentioned steps to add the third-party shortcuts to Google Assistant:
- You need to search on your device for the Google app and launch it.
- Proceed further by clicking on the menu option “More,” which would appear at the bottom bar.
- Then open the “Settings” option and click on “Google Assistant.”
- You need to then make a click on “Now.”
- Further, click on the “Services” tab and then on “Shortcuts” to open it.
- A list of all the Google Assistant-compatible third-party shortcuts that your device supports will appear on the screen. Please be noted that the shortcuts are populated based on the installed applications on your handset.
- To add all your desired shortcuts, you need to then click on the “+” icon. Once your shortcuts get added, Google Assistant will send you a confirmation regarding them.
- Later, whenever you want to find out any of the third-party shortcuts, you will easily be able to figure them out under the “Your Shortcuts” tab. Let us understand this with an example. Suppose you add “Explore Instagram,” “Twitter Messages,” or “New Keep Notes,” and more; to access them with the help of Google Assistant, you will have to proceed further by saying, “Hey Google, check the news.” You will immediately be redirected to the search tab of Twitter, from which you can access various kinds of news that are currently trending on Twitter.
- You may also frame several other variations of the command for a dedicated task and try checking them. For example, you may try giving commands like “check Twitter news,” and you will be redirected to the same page. All in all, it is not necessary for you to remember the actual phrase. You may say phrases that are closer to the actual command, and it will be processed correctly by the Assistant.
Conclusion
So, these were the steps with which you can easily add and run third-party shortcuts with Google Assistant. The virtual assistant of Google already had this type of feature previously but being loosely tied; it always required Google’s extreme support. Google Assistant has recently added WhatsApp calling and audio messages support for the users. It’s great to see all these third-party shortcuts getting integrated into one place. This will, in turn, help users to browse and add their desired shortcuts.
Source: How to Add Third-party Shortcuts to Google Assistant
