One of the draws of having a personal assistant is being able to control various things through it. Alexa is popular partially for this reason and Google Home/Assistant has been slowly catching up since its launch. Just a few weeks ago, our very own Cody noticed that Google was implementing direct support for IFTTT in the Google app for user-defined actions. Well, this has finally appeared in the Home app in a "Shortcuts" menu in the Assistant section.

These customizable user-defined shortcuts are very basic and anyone familiar with IFTTT will feel right at home (heh). The trigger is the "Ok Google, [blank]" phrase that you define, which activates a service like opening Google Play Music or sending a specific text to a certain contact. The best part? Not having to use the IFTTT website to manage your applets.

If you haven't taken up Tasker/AutoVoice/Assistant yet, this is a good way to get started. I am not sure if this is a server-side switch or an app update (I only noticed it this afternoon), but it's super cool nonetheless.

Thanks: Travis Cook, Jeremy Couch