Google Assistant can now read, reply to your messages from WhatsApp, Telegram, more

For a while now, Google Assistant has had the ability to read out your text messages aloud. But, this feature was only helpful for users who had all their important messages in the SMS inbox. Google Assistant did not support the same for third-party apps. Until now. As part of its latest update, Google Assistant will now be able to read your messages from third-party apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and more. You will also be able to send a reply through the assistant to these apps. The read-aloud feature is particularly useful when you’re driving, cooking or otherwise have your hands full. And with the latest update, you might not need to touch the phone to even check if your WhatsApp message needs an immediate response. [caption id=“attachment_5351651” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]  Representational image of Pixel 3 XL. Image: tech2[/caption] Notably, Google hasn’t announced this officially, however, the feature was noticed by many users of the Android community. This was first spotted by Android Police. But this also mean, that the feature might not be widely available right now, so don’t be surprised if Assistant scratches its head when you ask for an answer. If the feature has been rolled out to your device, then you will be able to make Google Assistant read out your messages from third-party applications by saying “read my messages” command. But how will you know if the feature is working for you? Well, when you say “read my messages” to Assistant, you will see a prompt appear that asks you if you want to let Google Assistant have access to your Notification data. Reportedly, the only way Google Assistant is able to read these messages to you, is by accessing the notification data and not going into the app itself. So in case you receive a media file, the Google Assistant will just say “the message just contains an [media type] attachment” and won’t be able to play or show it to you.