Google Assistant fills in third-party integration gap with IFTTT

Until developers can access 'Actions on Google' later this year, enabling official third-party integration with Google Assistant, the company has published IFTTT recipes to help bridge the gap.

With the unveiling of Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones earlier this month, we also learned of these devices being the first to ship with Assistant built in, putting to rest questions around the future of Google Now. While Assistant can readily operate within the confines of the Google ecosystem, official third-party actions will not be possible until December when developers gain access to 'Actions on Google'.

Until then, Google is attempting to bridge that gap after publishing over 60 recipes on IFTTT, otherwise known as "If This Then That". IFTTT allows users to link otherwise separate services, with an action on one service triggering a subsequent action on another service.

The recipe list includes expected integration, such as the ability to post updates to social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, via voice. However, a good portion of the published recipes provide the ability to control IoT devices including lights, locks, alarm systems, televisions, coffee machines, sprinklers, and vacuum cleaners.

At this stage, Google has not announced plans to publish additional recipes on IFTTT, nor its intentions for existing recipes should third-party developers build native support using Actions for Google.

Source: Android Central