Google Commands – The title should really say ‘A complete list of all OK Google commands as of when we updated this article as there seem to be new ones appearing fairly regularly. However, this list is current as of August 2018.
Tech mistake | Not everyone has heard of Google Now, because Google has not pushed its voice-activated assistant services as much as Amazon (Alexa) and Microsoft (Cortana), and Apple (Siri) have, but that doesn’t mean that the platform isn’t being actively developed. OK, Google commands are rolled out, usually along with Android updates. You can always check the comprehensive official list http://ok-google.io/.
How to use OK Google commands
Quick Links
- How to use OK Google commands
- People and Relationships
- Time
- Stocks
- Conversion
- Math
- Device Control
- Definitions
- Alarms
- Calendar
- Gmail integration
- Google Keep & Notes
- Contacts & Calls
- Messaging
- Social apps
- Translation
- Reminders
- Maps & Navigation
- Sports
- Flight & Travel
- Web Browsing
- Movies & TV Shows
- Easter eggs
- Music
- Timer & Stopwatch
Setting up your Android device to listen out for voice commands is very straightforward.
- Open the Google App on your Android device.
- Select the three-line menu icon in the top left.
- Select Voice and OK Google detection.
- Toggle on ‘From any screen’ to enable you to freely use Okay Google commands.
- Follow the setup wizard to train it to your voice.
As long as you don’t have a strong regional accent, you should only need to say a few words for Google Now to be able to recognize your voice.
Now to those OK Google commands, organized by category! The CAPITAL words are the variables you can give to OK Google with each command, for example, “How old is Barack Obama?” Note that you can and should experiment with some of these to see how flexible the command can be. I can’t list every possibility for every variable.
People and Relationships
- How old is PERSON?
- Where was PERSON born?
- Who is PERSON married to?
- Who is PERSON’s RELATIONSHIP (sister/brother/father etc.)?
- Who wrote TITLE?
- Who invented the THING?
Time
- When is the EVENT (sunrise, sunset, etc.) in PLACE?
- What is the time zone in PLACE?
- What time is it in PLACE?
- What is the time at home?
- Weather
- What’s the weather like?
- Do I need OBJECT (an umbrella, sunscreen, etc.) for DAY & TIME?
- What’s the weather going to be like in PLACE DAY & TIME?
- What’s the temperature outside?
- Is there a chance of rain DAY or TIME?
Stocks
- What’s the COMPANY stock price?
- What’s COMPANY trending at?
Conversion
- What are NUMBER UNITS in UNITS?
- Convert NUMBER UNITS to UNITS
- What’s NUMBER CURRENCY to CURRENCY?
- What’s the tip for NUMBER dollars?
Math
- The square root of NUMBER?
- What’s NUMBER divided by NUMBER?
- What’s NUMBER percent of NUMBER?
- What’s the NUMBER percent of NUMBER plus NUMBER?
Device Control
- Open WEBSITE
- Open APP
- CONTROL (increase, decrease) brightness
- Take a picture
- Take a selfie
- Turn ON or OFF SERVICE
- Record a video
- CONTROL volume
- Set the volume to NUMBER
- Set the volume to full
- Mute the volume
Definitions
- Define WORD
- What’s the definition of WORD?
- What’s the meaning of WORD?
Alarms
- Set an alarm in NUMBER minutes
- Set an alarm for TIME
- Set a repeating alarm for TIME
- Set an alarm for TIME with the label LABEL
- Set a repeating alarm at TIME for DAYS
- Show me my alarms
- When is my next alarm?
- Wake me up at TIME
Calendar
- New meeting
- Schedule an event EVENT NAME DAY at TIME
- What’s my next appointment?
- Show me the appointments for DAY TIME
- What does my calendar/schedule look like on DAY?
Gmail integration
- Show me my bills
- Where is my package?
- Where’s my hotel?
- Show me restaurants near my hotel
Google Keep & Notes
- Add ITEM to my LIST NAME list
- Make a note: NOTE
- Note to self: NOTE
Contacts & Calls
- Find PERSON’s number
- When is PERSON’s birthday?
- 1Call PERSON
- 2Call PERSON on speakerphone
- 3Call the nearest TYPE OF PLACE
- 4Call BUSINESS
Messaging
- Show me my messages
- Text PERSON MESSAGE
- Send an email to PERSON MESSAGE
- Send a SERVICE message to PERSON
Social apps
- Post to SOCIAL MEDIA SITE
Translation
- Say PHRASE in LANGUAGE
- Translate PHRASE to LANGUAGE
Reminders
- Add a reminder
- 1Remind me to TASK at TIME
- 2Remind me to TASK CIRCUMSTANCE (“next time I’m at the gym”)
- 3Remind me to TASK EVENT PLACE (“take my medicine”, “when I get to”, “work”)
- 4Remind me to buy ITEM at PLACE
- 5Remind me to TASK every DAY
- Map of PLACE
- Show me the nearest TYPE OF PLACE on the map
- 1Navigate to PLACE by car
- 2Navigate to PERSON’s place
- How far is PLACE from PLACE?
- Walking directions to PLACE
- What are some attractions around here?
- Show me popular museums in PLACE
- Where is PLACE?
- Is PLACE open now?
- When does PLACE close?
- Is PLACE open on DAY TIME OF DAY?
- Distance from here to PLACE
- How far away is PLACE?
Sports
- How is TEAM doing?
- Results from TEAM last game
- When is the next TEAM game
- Did TEAM win the last game?
Flight & Travel
- Flight AIRLINE NUMBER
- Flight status of AIRLINE NUMBER
- Has AIRLINE NUMBER landed?
- When will AIRLINE NUMBER land?
Web Browsing
- Go to WEBSITE
- Open / Show me / Browse WEBSITE
Movies & TV Shows
- When was TITLE released?
- The runtime of MOVIE?
- Listen to TV
- Who is the producer of MOVIE?
- Who acted in TITLE?
- Best movies of YEAR
- Best GENRE movies
- GENRE movies of YEAR
- Oscar winners of YEAR
- What are the best ACTOR / ACTRESS movies?
- What movies are playing DAY?
- Where is MOVIE playing?
Easter eggs
- Do a barrel roll
- What’s the loneliest number?
- Make me a sandwich
- sudo make me a sandwich
- When am I?
- Okay Jarvis
- Who are you?
- How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- Beam me up Scotty
- How can entropy be reversed?
- What’s ACTOR’s bacon number?
- Tell me a joke
- Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right
- Who’s on first?
- Go go gadget WEBSITE
- Askew
- Roll a dice
- Flip a coin
Music
- Play some music
- What’s this song?
- What song am I listening to?
- Listen to my PLAYLIST NAME playlist
- Next song
- Pause song
- Play TITLE by ARTIST
- Listen to the ALBUM NAME album
- Listen to ARTIST
Timer & Stopwatch
- Set timer for NUMBER minutes
- Start countdown
I’m not a huge fan of voice command, but I know many people who are, and the trend does appear to be moving in that direction. I guess I’m a little old school and prefer typing. Regardless of my old habits, many people use OK Google regularly to speed up phone functions and make their lives easier. I think that trend will only increase as voice recognition becomes more accurate and more sophisticated and we get more used to talking to our devices. Where will it end?
Do you have a favorite OK Google voice command? Know of any more Easter eggs that are worth trying? Tell us about them below if you do!
The article was originally published here.