You Can Now Use Shazam, Instacart, And Other Android Apps With “Okay Google” Commands

You’ve been able to use your voice (“Ok Google”) to do all sorts of stuff on Android for a while now. But said stuff has almost entirely been built-in by Google itself; third party developers haven’t really been able to tap into that functionality.

Today, that changes. Though it’s limited to select apps for now, things like “Ok Google, Shazam this song” or “Ok Google, Show me Smurfs 2 on Flixster” are now possible.

Here’s a list of some of the currently integrated commands, as hidden away on this support page and dug up by AndroidPolice:

• 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.

Even within the apps that are supported, voice commands are fairly restricted, so don’t expect it to do everything right now. “Ok Google, Show Instacart availability” works. “Ok Google, order me some apples from Whole Foods on Instacart” does not. Apps can support up to 3 custom voice actions at a time.

If you’re a developer looking to hook into this, there’s one catch: while it’s open to far more developers than it was in the past, you’ll still have to convince Google that your app is up to snuff to be allowed into the special test group. You can find the form for that here.

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