Amazon’s Alexa brings better app controls in preview mode

While most Android users have probably gotten used to using Google Assistant for voice-controlled tasks, Amazon thinks there’s still room for its own digital assistant. They’re now launching on preview improved app controls which will let you use voice controls or commands to launch an app and also to do stuff within those specific apps. Developers will be able to use Alexa Skills to perform tasks on their apps based on voice command. This is actually a first for Alexa and so developers may want to get on board now.

Alexa for Apps will let users search for things within the app. For example, you can ask it to search for tweets with a specific hashtag on Twitter or you can ask for business listings on Yellow Pages. It will not read out loud the results unlike with Google Assistant, but that’s still better than what it can or cannot do now. It can also give you more visual information like asking the Uber app to show the driver’s location.

Users will also be able to access functionality within the app through voice commands. The example that they used, complete with a video demo, is with app sensation TikTok. You can use Alexa to get the app to start recording, especially for those times when you’re not always hands-free. You can also just start watching TikTok videos by asking Alexa to open it. Amazon says you can ask Alexa to go to a website or to an app store if the app isn’t installed yet on the phone.

Developers can already get started with Alexa for Apps by requesting for early access then adding the app and website metadata to the skill.json manifest file. You can then edit, test, and publish the skill before it finally goes public or on a stable version. Since this is still in preview, there might still be changes or improvements as developers continue to add skills, functionalities, and features.

While Google Assistant can do similar things now, it’s limited to Pixel devices for now. Alexa may not be as widely used on smartphones but this may get some new uses to come and test it out on their devices.