Sending an Intent from Google Assistant to my smartphone

Question

I would like to do the following:

• give a command to (the Google Assistant in) Google Home
• from there, send an Intent to my Android smartphone starting an application (on a specific Activity)

Is that possible with Google actions?

I've scanned https://developers.google.com/actions/ but it is not clear to me whether I can send Intents to my phone. If so, can you provide a pointer?

Thanks in advance,

Marc

Answer 1

There is no direct way to do this. Here are a few ways to get close to the desired behavior:

1. When an intent is triggered on your Assistant surface, send a push notification to your phone (will require account linking). This push notification can then start an intent.

2. You can use a helper in the Action to request a new surface with a screen capability. This will not send an intent for your app, but will move the conversation over to a new surface which may make more sense. (This new surface may be able to present a Card with a deeplink into your app)