Google Now finally pulls in data from your favorite apps
At long last, Google Now will support third-party apps. That means that in addition to serving you helpful information like when your next appointment is and how long it'll take you to get to the airport, Google's predictive search app will now push data from third-party apps too. The list for supported third-party apps at launch is long -- almost 40 at current count -- and include notable apps such as Airbnb, Lyft, The Guardian and Pandora. The idea here is if you already have these apps on your phone, info from those will be pushed to cards in Google Now. So for example, Pandora will offer recommendations to you on your commute, or Airbnb will remind you of the place that you were searching for and ask you if you want to book it. It'll also work in concert with contextual information from the phone, so if you've just arrived at the airport, Lyft might ask you if you want a ride.
According to the Wall Street Journal, no user data from Google Now will be shared with third parties and though some Now cards will be triggered by location, your location itself won't be shared. If you do tap on that third-party Now card though, it'll launch that particular third-party app and it would get your data as it would normally. So far, third-party integration will only work with Android and only if you have those third-party apps installed. The new feature should start rolling out to Android users some time today.
