Customize Google Assistant in Android Auto app - android

Is it possible to customize Google Assistant experience in Android Auto media app? I'm building an app that is playing news (radio auditions, podcasts etc.) and Google Assistant is optimized to provide responses that are focused on "Music". For example when I'm asking for "Guns and Roses" then this search query is forwarded to my app and I can provide a search results to the user. But my app is more "news" oriented and when I'm for example asking to search for "sports news" then Google Assistant is not letting me to respond to this request.
My question is: is it possible to customize Google Assistant behaviour here? Or, even better it would be to force it to forward all of the "not recognized" queries to the app.

No, you cannot customize Google Assistant but I don't think that is the question you want to be asking here.
I propose an alternative solution that Google already provides.
This is not exactly as you ask but you may be able to to say "Play Sports News on {your app name}".
If you register ACTION_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH and implement the onPlayFromSearch() callback, you may get the play command string routed to your app.
Please refer to the following Google document: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media-apps/interacting-with-assistant#playback_actions

Related

Calling Android app API through Google Assistant custom action

In my application, I need to use Google Assistant to ask custom questions to a user that has already logged in. Based on the user input, I need to make an API call and place an entry for the user. I can use any Google Assistant supported devices to call my API.
Google Assistant allows me to create custom actions and from the fulfillment I can see that there is an option to call the API.
My question is: How can I make an entry for the particular user in the database via API calls? What is the correct way to accomplish this? I am wondering if this can be accomplished with Google Assistant or if I will require Google Voice Actions.
Google Assistant seems to provide all the options to satisfy my requirement. However, I am unsure how to put an entry against the particular user logged into my android application from my device via API call.
Any insight to this is helpful, thank you!

How do I use Google assistant to trigger my application

I am trying to build a simple app which can be triggered by google assistant.
Like if the users say, "Hey Google, Open TestApp" or "Hey Google, perform xyz from TestApp".
What would be the best approach? Dialogflow?
Saying "Okay, Google - do [something] with [your app]" in order to open your app to fulfill a query is called a Google Voice Action and you can add these to your app quite easily. See the documentation here for full details. Keep in mind - for these to work, your app does need to be in the Play Store, uploaded as a beta at the very least.
The Google Assistant is a little bit different - it's more conversational and doesn't take the user directly to your app. Instead, it takes the user's input, looks for the appropriate app to handle the query, feeds the query to your app, and then returns the response, within Google Assistant itself. This is all about having a conversation with an app, from the Google Assistant, without actually opening up your app.

Use Google Assistant to directly talk to my Android app and execute a very simple task

I am working on a project to integrate the Google Assistant with an existing Android app. The requirements are simple. Assuming my app is named TestApp and I want it to just change the background color of the app home page, I want to be able to say,
"Hey Google, Change background to black on TestApp".
I was given links to ActionsSDK, but looking into it, I see that it is only a stand-alone app that extends Google Assistant and has nothing to do with android itself.
The closest API I found that does what I need is the Voice Interactions. This is very similar to what I need done but it only allows preset voice triggers such as "call this person..." or "set alarm at...", but cannot do "change background..." like in in my example. According to this link, custom voice actions aren't allowed.
So my question is, is it possible to directly interact with my app and have it do a very simple task?
Thanks
You may want to connect an Android app property with your Actions project to sell your digital goods in the Play store. Implement digital transactions to sell your Play store items as part of a conversation with your Action.
To connect an Android app with your Actions console project, you will first need to connect a website to your project. Follow the instructions provided above in Connecting a website.
Once you've connected a website, under Android app, click the Connect App button and follow the instructions shown. Once you have completed the instructions over in the Play console, it may take up to 24hrs before the connected Android app is reflected in the Actions console.
Try this in Action on google
Right now there is no way to do communication between Android App and Google Assistant. If your GA is built upon Dialogflow API (specifically not using action-on-google), then you can use Dialogflow Android client in your Android App to communicate with Dialogflow Agent.
I wrote an app for my own use to brighten the screen when I was in bright sunshine and could not see the screen by asking the assistant to launch the app. Then on launch I executed code to make the change. A cheesy work-around I know :-)
you can try using this
[1]: https://docs.slanglabs.in/slang/
This will allow you to perform several actions through voice inside your app. You can use the console to add actions and utterances and there are some sample apps which might help you.
I have used it in a lot of my apps.
Feel free to reach out in case you need help, good luck!

Google Assistance integration with Android App

I want to integrate Google Assistant in my app. I am not just for launching the the app, also to operate on it like below:
App: Hi! What are you looking for?
User: T-shirts
App: What is the size?
User: 40
App: What is the color?
User: Any / Red and blue
App: Here is the T-shirts for you
User: Show order by Popularity
App: Here it is.
Is it possible to do so by Google Assistance? Is it possible to start any activity of my app with proper intent extra?
With Actions on Google as you will need to build a server side components to handle the voice/chat interaction. For an example of the voice interaction see: https://developers.google.com/actions/extending-the-assistant
As to actually starting an app from Google Assistant. I don't believe there is a direct way.
Alternatively that seems to be possible for a select set of voice commands through Google Search Voice Actions to reach your app.
Note that Google isn't taking any more requests for custom Voice Actions:
https://developers.google.com/voice-actions/custom-actions
And that the pages doesn't seem to have been updated since 2015 so I'm unclear what is still supported or not.
From what I can tell the only part of Google Search Voice Actions that may be still around in 2017 is the ability to incorporate app data into Google Search via
Firebase App Indexing

Can I track what keywords lead users to find my app on Google Play?

I know I can add a referrer parameter to the Google Play URL to track downloads from a specific source, but can I track which keyword searches users used to find my app on Google Play?
Before Google Play, i.e Android Market, I was receiving in the referrer all the relevant information to help me understood how my app was found.
It could have been keywords, tops, similar applications, etc.
It was really, really useful.
Since Google Play, I do not receive anything anymore. The only referrers I get are the one I set manualy when I do some campaigns. I spent a lot of time trying to understand why, but it looks like Google Play just doesn't send this information anymore. Doesn't make sense to me, however.
However, you'll get keywords of how users found your application on Google Play from Google search engine (if they hit "Install on my phone" button).
Referrer example utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=my+keyword
(doesn't work if user is using https Google search)
Not exactly, because your app is found by keywords defined by YOU.
-> If you're selling navigation based app, you may enter "navigation". Therefore it appears under keyword navigation and in that case, the result would be relevant.
If they open something related to app that is related to your app, will you be interested in the first keyword that could have been something totally different?
-> If there's an app with keyword "children", they open it and Google Play then recommends something else with children, they open it. Then, this second app, having also keyword children could have a tag "navigation". Then Google Play could recommend YOUR app. I don't believe that tag "children" would be your concern :-)

Categories

Resources