New Google Assistant to come with shortcuts, built-in list of supported apps

The new Google Assistant might come with features that include a significant revamp to Assistant settings

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, file photo, Google CEO Sundar Pichai talks about Google Assistant during a product event in San Francisco. Google is likely to again put artificial intelligence in the spotlight at its annual developers conference, Thursday, May 10, 2018. (AP)

The new Google Assistant was launched with the Pixel 4 in October last year and has been rolled out to more users since. A look at the 11.3 version of this Google app revealed ongoing work on Assistant Shortcuts that will let users create voice macros for supported apps.

Google9to5, in an APK Insight post, has decompiled the latest version of an app that Google has uploaded on the Play Store. When decompiled, these APKs or Android Application Packages, they were able to see codes within it that hints at features that will be seen in the app in the future.

Google may or may not ever ship these features and the interpretations of what these features might be may not always be accurate. Google9to5, however, tried to enable those that are closer to completion and see what they might look like if they do ship.

The new Google Assistant might come with features that include a significant revamp to Assistant settings. There is a new "Assistant-enables apps" menu to list "Installed apps that work with Assistant".

There is a full page of "Assistant Shortcuts" with an accompanying description. This is possibly a reference to the new Google Assistant since the latest version can augment and control apps directly.

There is an "Your apps" section that prompts you to "Add quick voice shortcuts to these apps," with Google and YouTube currently listed. The feature is not yet fleshed out wholly and tapping on it shows an empty "Recommended Shortcuts" section.

The secondary use of this new feature is to be able to see what apps support the new Google Assistant's ability to navigate apps by voice. The best-known example today is "browsing Google Photos and sending Messages by just talking with Assistant". This new list should hopefully serve as "education for an otherwise invisible feature".

All questions about primary capability can be answered by comparing it to Routines. Routines were meant for smart home commands and some on-device functions like silencing the phone etc. Shortcuts, however, are for first and third party apps.

We will learn more about it once the update rolls out.