App actions

[quantumFeline]

Overview

This pull request integrates the Interval Timer with Google Assistant App Actions. It allows the user to use voice commands to control the application. While this is a feature proposal rather than a bugfix, we hope that it will still attract your attention - it feels natural for an application that is mostly used during physical activities to be used without directly interacting with the screen.

The following voice commands are supported: starting, stopping, pausing, and resuming the exercise. Together, they allow the user to fully control the flow of their exercise using only their voice.

You can see the demo video here.

This Assistant integration fully respects the privacy principles of the Interval Timer: No information is passed from the application to the Assistant. Only if the user actively and knowingly interacts with the Google Assistant, then the Assistant is aware of user actions. Thus, it is transparent for the user whether they share data with the Assistant.

Authors

This pull request was created as a part of Google STEP Internship project.

Additional information

App Actions

App Actions are used to integrate third-party applications that want to use voice commands with Google Assistant.

Implementing App Actions for the application means that the application is able to receive implicit intents (called Built-In Intents) sent out by Google Assistant. Assistant is able to parse the user queries naturally - for example, “Begin my run” is correctly interpreted as START_EXERCISE intent.

The feature is relatively new, and available on Android 5 (API level 21) and higher.

The relevant Built-in Intents, which were used in this pull request specifically, are START_EXERCISE, STOP_EXERCISE, PAUSE_EXERCISE, and RESUME_EXERCISE.

To test App Actions behaviour before deployment, the App Actions Test Tool can be used. It imitates the Google Assistant behaviour, sending out an intent which can then be received by the application. Since the Assistant needs to know which types of queries are supported by the application, using the Test Tool still requires an internal release to be uploaded in Console.

Deployment

The full instruction for deployment of an app that uses App Actions is available here.

The process of publishing is straightforward, but the deployment needs to be reviewed by Google Play. For this, please fill out the deployment request form. It only asks about general information about your application and the App Actions implemented, and takes only 1-2 minutes to fill out.

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Please do not hesitate to contact us back if you have any questions regarding the pull request or the deployment process; we will be happy to address them.

[quantumFeline]

Hello again!

I was wondering if you could clarify when can I expect first feedback regarding the pull request. I perfectly understand that it might take some time to look into it, especially since this code is quite lengthy -- I am just interested in an approximate time estimate.

Many thanks in advance!

[sleep-yearning]

Hello @quantumFeline,
thank you for the contribution!
We will check and feedback/merge in a timeframe of the next 8 weeks.
I hope this is helpful for you.