Select Third-Party Apps Now Able To Feed Information Into Google Now

To help retain its place at the top of the search market, Google is set to start allowing third-party apps to deliver information to Google Now, its predictive search app that’s built into Android phones, Android Wear smartwatches and the Chrome web browser.

Google Now has been seen as the future of Google’s search technology since it was initially launched in 2012. This tool was built to deliver frequently searched for information before a user asked for it, such as a traffic report for the commute home, sports scores, calendar appointments, weather reports and much more. This data all came directly from a user’s Google account, including what they searched for on Google.com and data taken from their Gmail account.

Now, for the first time ever, Google has announced that it is allowing third-party apps to deliver information to Google Now. The company has formally opened up Google Now to a select group of more than 30 third-party apps, including Airbnb, eBay, Lyft and others, each of which will feed data into Google Now “cards”. However, users will only see these new Now cards if they have the related non-Google app installed on their phone. For example, if a person has both the updated Google app and the Airbnb app downloaded on their phone or tablet, Airbnb will feed into Google Now the listings a person has searched for and the dates that they were looking at booking a property. The information will show up as a Now card, asking the user if they want to book the place that they were looking at, a few days before the potential rental dates.

Google explained to the Wall Street Journal that this change will result in more than 40 new cards being available to users. However, the company has stated that no user data from Google Now itself will be shared with third-parties in the process, such as what stock or sports team a user follows.

Although some of the new third-party Now cards will be triggered by location, Google assures that the user’s location will not be shared in such a situation. However, once a user taps on any third-party Now card, they will be launched into that non-Google app, subsequently starting that company’s data collection in the same way that would occur when that specific app is normally used.

The move to bring third parties into Google Now will make the tool much more useful, and therefore likely to become much more popular with users. However, its important to note that this change will also bring prompts to spend money to Google Now for the first time. At least initially, Google will not be charging the third-party providers for the referral traffic.

There are many interesting ways that the addition of third parties will increase the functionality of Google Now. For example, ride-sharing company Lyft will now push a Now card to those who arrive at an airport, in anticipation of them wanting a ride home. Kayak will let people know when prices on previously searched for flights have dropped. Zillow will let people know when new listings show up in markets that they are thinking of buying a home in.

Additionally, Google Now is making a formal media play. The Economist will be able to send users Now cards with links to new stories and the Guardian will be able to do the same with recipes. Shazam will remind users of songs that they’ve recently heard in the app. These examples illustrate the increased reach that becomes possible with this change to Google Now.

Truthfully, each of these new Now cards are doing more than simply predicting search results. They are also helping to facilitate purchases.

For Google Now users, all of these integrations are optional. A user must have the related third-party app on their phone in order for any of this to work, and they have to give permission to Google Now to use data from third-party apps, which can be found in Google Now’s “Web & App Activity” settings.

All of these ideas are very interesting and mark some major opportunities for the growth of Google Now. However, companies must find a way to balance their desire to reach customers with any concerns that people may have about sharing their personal data. We’ll be watching this important aspect of the third-party addition to Google Now as people start to use the new functionality.