Smart Reply has, for many people become an integral part of their Inbox and Gmail experience, now Google’s San Francisco based incubator, Area 120, has come up with a way to bring those smart replies to all your messaging apps.
The project, called ‘Reply’, is an Android only feature that’s currently taking sign-ups on the web for anyone interested in giving it a try. The form lists Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, Android Messages, WhatsApp, Skype, Slack, Line and WeChat as apps that the team is interested in sourcing users of. If you’re interested in applying to be in on the trial you’ll also have to supply a reason why you want to give it a go.
According to screenshots of Smart Reply working in Android Messages and Google Hangouts that TechCrunch has supplied, the smart replies take into account the context of the question before offering a potential reply for you to give.
According to TechCrunch, Reply isn’t a standalone app, rather it’s simply a way to respond to messages – though how that works is unclear, surely an app is required? Reply will also include a Do Not Disturb mode which will silence the phone when driving, instead offering a reply to say you’re driving. It will also respond appropriately if your calendar says you’re on holiday.
If you’re interested then head over and sign up to the form and maybe you’ll be smart replying in your chat apps soon.
When they say that it isn’t a standalone app, they mean it isn’t a standalone messaging app. Ie. it doesn’t replace any of the messaging apps mentioned. Instead it will very likely be a standalone app that uses a Notification Listener service to intercept and replace notifications from support messaging apps.
Makes sense Mishaal. Nice to see XDA dropping by.