Google introduced Actions for Google Home, third-party integrations that work a lot like skills for Alexa, back in 2017. Since then, the list of available services — now called Assistant apps — has grown, giving users access to additional news sources, food or book recommendations and much more.
Unlike Alexa skills, third-party services for Google Home ($129 at Dell Home) just work. To use them, you only need to know the invocation, which can be found in the Google Home app under More settings > Assistant apps or on the web interface that lets you explore everything Google Home can do. We’ve included some examples below, too.
Here are 40 of the best Assistant apps you should already be using.
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Food and drinks
Whether it’s ordering a meal or asking for recipe recommendations, smart speakers have naturally become kitchen companions. Google Home is no exception.
- You can order Domino’s with Google Home simply by saying, “OK Google, let me talk to Dominos,” or, “OK Google, talk to Dominos and get my Easy Order.” You can also track an order you’ve placed by saying, “OK Google, talk to Dominos and track my order.”
- With the Food Network app, you can ask for recipes by specific chefs, what shows are coming on tonight or even to get the recipe for what’s currently on TV. Just say, “OK Google, ask Food Network to send me the recipes on TV right now,” and if there is a recipe on the show playing for your time zone, it will be sent straight to your inbox.
- Wine Guide will give you wine pairings for your favorite foods. Just ask to talk to My Wine Guide and the app will walk you through pairings for the meal you’re preparing.
- Tender can suggest cocktails for you, walk you through making a drink or even tell you what’s in a certain cocktail. For suggestions, say, “OK Google, ask Tender for drinks like a mojito.” Another similar app is called The Bartender.
- Beer Guide will tell you about your favorite beers or beers you’d like to try. Just say, “OK, Google, tell me about [beer name],” and Beer Guide will tell you the brewer, type of beer, its ABV and give a short description of the beer’s characteristics.
- Beer Man is powered by Untappd and can suggest top-rated beers, give you ale descriptions or tell you who brews a specific pint.
- The OpenTable app lets you make reservations at nearby restaurants without lifting a finger. Just say, “OK, Google, tell OpenTable to make a reservation for 7 p.m. at [restaurant name].”
- If you’re unhappy with the way Google Home handles shopping lists, your best bet is to use OurGroceries. It will require you to create an OurGroceries account, but you will be able to manage multiple shopping lists and view them from the mobile apps or from the web. Say, “OK, Google, ask OurGroceries to add milk to [list name],” or, “OK, Google, ask OurGroceries to remove eggs from [list name].”
- Google made the Nutrition Facts app to make it easy to find nutritional information about the food you’re eating. Just ask how many calories are in a slice of pizza, whether something is gluten-free or how much sugar is in an orange.
Smart home
Google is hellbent on adding support for a growing list of smart home brands. Several are directly integrated with Google Home, such as Lifx, Philips Hue, Nest, SmartThings and WeMo. But many more smart home brands have added support for Google Home with Assistant apps.
- The Geneva Home app allows you to control your GE smart appliances with Google Home. Preheat the oven, heat water for coffee, ask when the dishwasher will finish, ask if the dryer is finished and much more. Just say, “OK, Google, let me talk to Geneva Home.”
- Likewise, the LG app allows you to check the status of the dishwasher, set the AC temperature or start your robot vacuum.
- Ring allows you to control your home security with Google Home. Turn on motion alerts, begin a recording or check your last notification. Say something like, “OK, Google, ask Ring about the last time my doorbell rang.”
- Similarly, using Harmony, you can control your home entertainment system using your voice. Turn on the TV, start up Netflix and more.
- August recently added support for door locks. You can use Google Home to lock your doors or check on the status of a specific lock. Unfortunately, you cannot yet unlock doors with August using Google Home.
- Connecting your TP-Link devices to Google Home will let you control all of the devices — smart plugs, lights and range extenders — using your voice.
Travel
- While you can check on flight prices with Google Home out of the box, you can’t check on hotels or rental cars. That’s where the Kayak app comes in. Just say, “OK, Google, ask Kayak to find new travel destinations,” or, “OK, Google, find a hotel in New York City.”
- Parks Finder is an app made by Google that will let you find nearby gardens, dog parks and other types of parks near wherever you are at the time. (Don’t forget, you can use Google Assistant apps from your phone, too.)
- Flights and Hotels is another Google-made Assistant app that lets you check the status of any flight. You can also ask Google how far you can get with a certain amount of money, how much it will cost to fly to a specific destination or find hotels in different cities.
- Blue Link by Hyundai allows you to remotely control compatible vehicles using Google Home. You’ll need to link your MyHyundai account and provide a PIN when interacting with the app, but you will be able to remotely start your car and set the AC temperature, send directions to the navigation unit and control the charging state of your hybrid.
- Mercedes me is a similar app for Mercedes owners. You can remotely set the temperature, start the car and lock the doors.
- Likewise, the BMW app can will connect Google Assistant to your car and give you status information about your car, such as location, battery charge level and whether the doors are locked.
Health
- The WebMD app is exactly what you would expect, a voice-controlled version of the website. You can ask about health conditions, specific drugs or side effects.
- Your dog’s health is important, too, and Dr. Doggy can tell you if the treat you want to give your dog is safe or not. Say, “OK Google, ask Dr. Doggy if it’s safe for my dog to eat apples.”
- 5-minute plank does exactly what you would think — it walks you through a common 5-minute plank workout. To get started, just say, “OK, Google, let me talk to 5-minute plank.”
- Slow down and relax with Meditation Sounds. This app will play 2 minutes of relaxing sounds to help you unwind.
Entertainment
- If you’re looking for something to watch, And Chill can give you recommendations based on another movie you like and why you like it, such as the twist at the end or the suspense.
- The itcher app recommends movies, as well, but it can also recommend books. Link your Google and itcher accounts to get even more personalized, community-based recommendations.
- The Fandango app will let you find new movies that are coming to theaters, as well as find theaters and showtimes near you.
- Likewise, Ticketmaster will provide you with ticket prices for events happening nearby. You can ask for tickets to specific events or find events happening in the near future.
- Cool Events pulls events from Ticketmaster, MeetUps, SeatGeek and EventBrite. Just ask for Cool Events and specify your location. Tell it from which source you’d like to hear about events and it will list all nearby events.
- Date Ideas will provide you with suggestions for what to do on your next date. Anything to switch up date night is a welcome change.
Games
- To start up a game of blackjack, just say, “OK Google, let me talk to 21 Blackjack.” You will be dealt a hand and you can choose to hit or stand. The game keeps a record of your wins and losses. You can also ask for advice and for the official rules.
- Akinator the genie is the classic guessing game. You choose a character and Akinator asks you a series of questions until it can guess your character. It’s not often you can stump the genie.
- The Magic Door is a choose-your-own-adventure story game that’s filled with hidden items and riddles. To start, just say, “OK Google, open the magic door.”
And other random apps
- To hear about the newest products for the day, ask to talk to Product Hunt. It will give you the top three products by default, and more products if you ask.
- If you want to follow cryptocurrencies with Google Home, use the Bitcoin Prices app. Not only will it give you the current going rate of Bitcoin, but hundreds of other currencies, as well.
- Similarly, you can keep up with your favorite stocks using the Stock Updates app from Google. Just say something like, “OK, Google, what’s Apple’s stock price?”
- Sassy Girl is an artificially intelligent conversational bot based on Cleverbot. Start a conversation by saying, “OK Google, talk to Sassy Girl.” Then you can carry on a conversation as long as you’d like.
- AutoVoice allows you to create your own commands for Google Home. It requires the AutoVoice and Tasker Android apps, as well as a fair amount of setup. But once it’s up and running, the sky is the limit.
- The eBay app can give you the value of items. Say something like, “OK, Google, ask eBay what an Apple Watch is worth.” It will ask whether it’s new or used and give you an approximate value for how much it’s worth.
We publish a new Google Home tip every week. Sign up for our Google Home newsletter to get those tips in your inbox!
And here’s the complete list of Google Home commands so far.
Originally published on February 8, 2017.
Update, July 16, 2018: Added 12 new apps.
