Google Now just got a lot more powerful. Google is expanding its Android-based predictive search service’s capabilities to include 70 more third-party apps, the company’s announcement reported by Mashable on Tuesday.
The goal of Google Now is to show relevant search results — in the form of “cards” — automatically, without you having to ask. The information is based on your previous actions and browsing history. For example, Google Now may send traffic alerts and route information before your next appointment.
In adding more third-party services, from companies like OpenTable, Eat24, Feedly and Jawbone (you can see a full list of the Google Now-supported apps here), Google’s Android app can now pull data from more than 100 different services.
If you have one or more of these apps installed on your device, Google Now will occasionally send you notifications when it thinks you may want information from a particular service.
For example, ZipCar app users may see Google Now cards with information about an upcoming reservation. Music apps may provide playlist suggestions based on your previous listening history, and news apps will send notifications in breaking news or other trending stories you may be interested in.
As with other Google Now notifications, the alerts are supposed to be fairly nonintrusive and only appear when the app detects the information may be relevant to you. So users with many Google Now compatible apps shouldn’t expect a flood of new notifications.
Google first added support for third-party apps to Google Now back in January. At launch it had 40 partners, including companies such as Lyft, AirBnb, Pandora and Duolingo. Although Tuesday’s update is a significant expansion of the feature, the company did not provide an update on when Google Now integration would become available to more developers.
Google Now’s product manager Aparna Chennapragada confirmed earlier this year the company plans to eventually open up Google Now to all Android developers.
