Google Now on Tap: A Game-Changing Feature for Android Users

When I receive an email from a friend asking me to go check out a movie, I have two options: fumble my phone to find more information about the movie or ignore it and do something else. However, Google Now on Tap can help me make an informed decision quickly. By tapping and holding on any screen element, Google's Knowledge Graph comes into play, providing a quick answer about what I'm looking at in that moment.

The Context of What I'm Doing

Google's Knowledge Graph is a powerful tool that has access to a vast amount of information about the world, including people, places, things, and even specific movies. In this case, when I tap and hold on a movie title, Google immediately provides me with relevant information. The card that appears shows the ratings from IMDb, as well as some additional details about the movie. This is all made possible by the fact that many apps have participated in Google's app indexing program, which allows users to quickly access relevant information from within the app.

App Indexing and its Benefits for Developers

The app indexing program has opened up new opportunities for developers to get their apps discovered by users. By participating in this program, apps can provide a quick answer or action that is relevant to what the user is doing at the moment. This feature is particularly useful when it comes to getting people to check out more information about something they are interested in.

App Indexing Example: Checking Out More Information About Pitch Perfect 2

One of the benefits of Google Now on Tap is the ability to access more information about a topic quickly and easily. For example, if I want to go see Pitch Perfect 2 with my friend, I can use Google Now on Tap to check out more information about the movie from IMDb or Flickster. The trailer for the movie can also be played directly within the app, making it easy to decide whether or not to go see it.

App Indexing Example: Discovering and Going to a Location

Another example of how Google Now on Tap works is when I'm having a conversation with my friend Paige in the chat app v. She sends me a message asking if we want to go to Koy Tower this weekend because she's never been there before. Without having to fumble through my phone, I can use Google Now on Tap to quickly look up more information about the tower and plan our trip. The Knowledge Graph provides a quick answer that tells me it's a famous tower in San Francisco.

Going Deep Link

After getting some quick answers from Google Now on Tap, I can also go deep link directly into another app to get more information or take further action. For example, if I want to learn more about the Koy Tower, I can click on the Trip Advisor app that has appeared after tapping and holding on the tower's name. This takes me straight to the Koy Tower page in Trip Advisor, allowing me to browse around and see photos of the tower.

Voice Activation

Another way that Google Now on Tap is accessed is through voice activation. In Spotify, for example, I can ask "Who is the lead singer of One Pilots?" and get a quick answer from Google. The feature also works in Japan when my friend Paige posts pictures of her trip to Koy Tower, and I want to learn more about it.

The Future of Google Now on Tap

Google Now on Tap is just one example of how Google's AI technology is being used to make life easier for Android users. With the next version of M, this feature will become even more powerful and accessible, making it possible for users to quickly access information and take further action without having to fumble through their phones. By providing quick answers and actions in the moment, Google Now on Tap has the potential to revolutionize the way we use our smartphones and interact with the world around us.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enokay uh hi my name is ano I'm a product manager at Google working on Google Now on tap and uh this is a new feature coming in the new release of Android Android M and we have an early preview version that we can show you so we can give you a sense of how it works okay um and so the goal of this product is that Google and Google Now wants to help you wherever you are on your phone um whatever you're doing um give you some assistance right there in that moment um to make things easier for you um so just I'll show a couple of different examples of this because it works across a variety of apps um so let's say I'm in inbox um you know in any email uh application and I get an email you know from a friend asking me to go check out a movie and I don't know much about this movie um you know I could go fumble my phone go to some other app or go and do something else but Google Now on tap can help me right here um so I just you know tap and hold um and now Google is going to take um the context of what I'm doing and help me with a quick answer um about what's what I'm looking at here and so you notice this card has come up here um pretty quickly and U it's talking about this movie Pitch Perfect 2 and the reason we're able to do that is we're bringing um Google's Knowledge Graph which is Google's um uh information about all the things in the world um so we know about people places things and this this kind of movie and so there's some ratings here um this coming from IMDb there's a little bit information about the movie I can go and play the trailer on YouTube um so I get some quick information I can decide whether I want to go see this movie with my friend um something that's really cool and really important for developers here is um you notice these app icons here below um so there's IMDb flickster Twitter and this is coming from Google's work on app indexing um we have you know many many apps which are participa in app indexing program and if those apps are installed on my phone then they show up here this is a great opportunity for developers to get discovered by users right in context right in the situation where the user might find that useful so if I want to go on IMDb check out more information about this movie go on flick Store look at the Rotten Tomato reviews go on Twitter see what people are saying about this movie I can do that right here with now on tap really quickly okay so that's one example um you know with a movie um so let me you know show you another example here um maybe in another app um so let's say I'm having a conversation in v which is a chat app and Paige um which is one of my friends you know sent me a message you want to go to Koy Tower this weekend um she's never been so again like yeah I could go fumbling my my phone trying to figure this out and trying to understand whether I want to go there um but I could use now on top again I just you know tap on hold on the home button here and Google uses the context of what we're talking about here to show me some relevant quick answer really quickly um so here it pulls up something different last time was a movie now this is a place so just from this quick answer again from the knowledge graph I can see okay this looks like some kind of tower in San Francisco um and then there's different apps here I could try and navigate there because Google is trying to figure out the next action I might want to take based on this information I might want to check out some more information about Yelp or might want to go to you know Trip Advisor and see some more photos or see what people are saying so just I'll click on that here and you see I go right into the trip advisor app right to the koit Tower page um deep link there and that's really helpful to the developer here obviously and then I can browse around I didn't have to go fumbling around search in trying to figure this out Google's trying to be very helpful to me right away so another way that can use now and tap um is also by voice um so I'm going to show you example of that um so here I am in Spotify um and uh you know Spotify and all these other apps don't have to do anything to enable this functionality it it comes um right there in Android M the next version of M Okay Google who's the lead singer the lead singer of One Pilots is Tyler Joseph I'll show another one here um a friend of mine is visiting uh Japan and he posted some pictures so this looks like a show he went to um so I could say something like um I could long press obviously here and get some information about this from now on top um so this looks like some venue um there are other you know actions I can take there um I can press the microphone here show me more pictures of this place piur of G so you see Google when I said this place Google knew that I was talking about this place that I was looking at in the app yeah so let just show you some examples this works across a variety of apps and it's coming the next Android M release and it's Google trying to be helpful to you with Google Now Google Now ontap no matter what you're doing on your screen at that moment um to give you assistance give you actions and answers to help you what you're doing wonderful thanks sookay uh hi my name is ano I'm a product manager at Google working on Google Now on tap and uh this is a new feature coming in the new release of Android Android M and we have an early preview version that we can show you so we can give you a sense of how it works okay um and so the goal of this product is that Google and Google Now wants to help you wherever you are on your phone um whatever you're doing um give you some assistance right there in that moment um to make things easier for you um so just I'll show a couple of different examples of this because it works across a variety of apps um so let's say I'm in inbox um you know in any email uh application and I get an email you know from a friend asking me to go check out a movie and I don't know much about this movie um you know I could go fumble my phone go to some other app or go and do something else but Google Now on tap can help me right here um so I just you know tap and hold um and now Google is going to take um the context of what I'm doing and help me with a quick answer um about what's what I'm looking at here and so you notice this card has come up here um pretty quickly and U it's talking about this movie Pitch Perfect 2 and the reason we're able to do that is we're bringing um Google's Knowledge Graph which is Google's um uh information about all the things in the world um so we know about people places things and this this kind of movie and so there's some ratings here um this coming from IMDb there's a little bit information about the movie I can go and play the trailer on YouTube um so I get some quick information I can decide whether I want to go see this movie with my friend um something that's really cool and really important for developers here is um you notice these app icons here below um so there's IMDb flickster Twitter and this is coming from Google's work on app indexing um we have you know many many apps which are participa in app indexing program and if those apps are installed on my phone then they show up here this is a great opportunity for developers to get discovered by users right in context right in the situation where the user might find that useful so if I want to go on IMDb check out more information about this movie go on flick Store look at the Rotten Tomato reviews go on Twitter see what people are saying about this movie I can do that right here with now on tap really quickly okay so that's one example um you know with a movie um so let me you know show you another example here um maybe in another app um so let's say I'm having a conversation in v which is a chat app and Paige um which is one of my friends you know sent me a message you want to go to Koy Tower this weekend um she's never been so again like yeah I could go fumbling my my phone trying to figure this out and trying to understand whether I want to go there um but I could use now on top again I just you know tap on hold on the home button here and Google uses the context of what we're talking about here to show me some relevant quick answer really quickly um so here it pulls up something different last time was a movie now this is a place so just from this quick answer again from the knowledge graph I can see okay this looks like some kind of tower in San Francisco um and then there's different apps here I could try and navigate there because Google is trying to figure out the next action I might want to take based on this information I might want to check out some more information about Yelp or might want to go to you know Trip Advisor and see some more photos or see what people are saying so just I'll click on that here and you see I go right into the trip advisor app right to the koit Tower page um deep link there and that's really helpful to the developer here obviously and then I can browse around I didn't have to go fumbling around search in trying to figure this out Google's trying to be very helpful to me right away so another way that can use now and tap um is also by voice um so I'm going to show you example of that um so here I am in Spotify um and uh you know Spotify and all these other apps don't have to do anything to enable this functionality it it comes um right there in Android M the next version of M Okay Google who's the lead singer the lead singer of One Pilots is Tyler Joseph I'll show another one here um a friend of mine is visiting uh Japan and he posted some pictures so this looks like a show he went to um so I could say something like um I could long press obviously here and get some information about this from now on top um so this looks like some venue um there are other you know actions I can take there um I can press the microphone here show me more pictures of this place piur of G so you see Google when I said this place Google knew that I was talking about this place that I was looking at in the app yeah so let just show you some examples this works across a variety of apps and it's coming the next Android M release and it's Google trying to be helpful to you with Google Now Google Now ontap no matter what you're doing on your screen at that moment um to give you assistance give you actions and answers to help you what you're doing wonderful thanks so\n"