Google just announced that users will now be able to dictate and send messages on WhatsApp, Viber and WeChat by using Google Now. The announcement about the latest update was made in a blog post.
Android’s OK Google feature has been around for a while now. The voice assistant helped users perform various tasks like setting a reminder, Googling stuff or calling a friend. The command was pretty straightforward: “OK Google” and you were just a few spoken words away from sending a SMS.
Google Now has built on that and now its users will also be able to send messages via WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat Telegram and NextPlus as long as they dictate in English. Google’s plans include adding more languages and more apps in the neart future.
So how does the magic work? All you have to do is say “OK Google, send a WhatsApp message to Mary” and Google Now will take care of the rest.
Sending a WhatsApp or Viber message has never been this simple before. The smartphone voice assistant from Google will pick up on your command and ask you to start dictating your message. There’s also a shortcut version that’s a bit more straightforward. Here are the instructions. Just say “OK Google, send a WhatsApp message to Mary: let’s meet tonight” and Google Now will deliver your message in seconds.
If all this sounds good, make sure you have the latest version of the messaging app, the latest Google app and you’re now ready to safely text while you’re driving. In addition it’s bound to save users a lot of time opening the apps and typing up messages.
The privileged Android users are likely to remain the only ones who’ll be able to dictate and send messages on WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat Telegram and NextPlus without opening the apps and typing.
As of January 2015 WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app worldwide, with more than 800 million active users. This came 6 years after the app was launched by Brian Acton and Jan Koum and one year after Facebook bought WhatsApp back in February 2014.
In an attempt to attract even more people and cover more users’ needs at the beginning of 2015 Whatsapp launched a calling feature for Android, iOS and Windows. They also made the app available on web browsers, perfectly mirroring the chats on your mobile phone and vice versa.
We can only imagine Google Now will help WhatsApp increase in popularity and gather even more users in the following months.
