Google Assistant can now read your messages from third party apps

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Google Assistant has long been able to read your messages from Google-branded apps, and now it’s getting a new trick – reading your messages aloud from third-party messaging apps.

That means you can now use the voice assistant to read (and answer) messages from apps like WhatsApp, Slack and even Telegram.

Google Assistant can now read your messages from non-Google apps

If you rely on non-Google apps for messaging, finally you can manage all your apps hands-free via Google Assistant.

How to use Google Assistant to read all your messages from installed apps:

• Invoke Google Assistant by saying “Hey Google” or “Ok Google,” then say read my messages
• You might need to grant notification access to the Google app if you haven’t already
• You’ll then see a card pop up with the last message(s), which Google Assistant will read aloud
• It’ll also tell you which app it came from, and who the sender is
• Once finished reading, Google Assistant will give you the option to type or dictate a reply
• After doing that, the answer is sent and the original message is marked as read
• If you have multiple messages inbound, Assistant will read all of them, showing a carousel of the message cards

There are a few minor quirks, like Slack giving the workspace name instead of the person’s, but otherwise, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

What do you think? Plan on using this new Assistant feature? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.