December 7, 2019

Google Assistant is about to get better at taking notes for you

By Tech Online Things

Google is pushing out more updates for Google Assistant, this time around note taking: the Assistant is adding better support for creating lists and notes, and will more closely integrate with third-party apps as well.

Support for apps including Google Keep, Any.do, AnyList and or Bring! is rolling out now, Google says, so you’ll be better able to keep on top of everything you need to do during the busy festive season.

And these new integrations are going to be available across Google Assistant on phones, smart speakers, and smart displays, so pretty much everywhere you can already get at Google’s little digital helper.

As per Google’s instructions, you need to head to the Services tab in your Google Assistant settings and then choose the right app from the Notes and Lists section, assuming it’s already installed somewhere on your phone.

Making a list, checking it twice

Commands like “create a holiday gift list”, “add cranberries to my grocery list” and “take a note” will work, according to Google, though feel free to experiment – the Assistant is getting better and better at recognizing spoken words.

And if you thought that Google Assistant could already take notes and work on lists for you… well, you’re right, sort of. These notes and lists just haven’t been very well integrated in any other services, such as Google Keep.

With the new integrations, it should be much easier to stay on top of what needs to get done or what needs to be bought, no matter what note-taking or to do list app you prefer. Let’s hope support for a few more apps arrives in the future.

Google suggests a few more ways you might want to make use of Assistant over the holidays as well: assigning reminders to specific family members for example, or discovering podcasts on topics linked to the Christmas season.

Here’s how the new Ambient Mode for Google Assistant works