10 Awesome Things You Can Do With Google Now On Tap

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Over the past few months, Google Now has become a bigger and bigger part of Android. Let me give you a timeline – in the beginning; Google Now was just a search box at the top of your Android Home Screen. In Android 4.1 Jellybean, Google Now started providing basic weather/stocks predictions. And now, from Android Marshmallow onwards, Google introduced Now on Tap, a much more accurate and feature rich version of Google Now.   

But unfortunately, most people don’t use Google Now On Tap to its full potential.

So, let’s have a look at some of the less know yet useful Google Now on tap features. Or watch the video demo at the end of this article. 

 

How to Use Google Now On Tap?

Google introduced a new feature in the Marshmallow which is all about- getting more information on your fingertips. Simply press and hold the home button on any screen and Now On Tap will display useful information about whatever is on the current screen. 

For instance, if you are reading any article on a movie review, Google now on tap will give the IMDB rating of that movie, along with the star cast and other useful information. 

Note: On some devices, the shortcut to open Google Now on tap (i.e. pressing the home button) may be different. In that case, whatever was the shortcut to open Google now will work for Google Now on tap. The first time when you launch Google Now on tap, it’ll ask your permission to turn it on. Alternatively, you can enable this feature first by going to Google App >Settings and then enable Now On Tap.

So, now that we have all setup let’s explore all its features based on different categories.

1. Find Information Quickly

It’s the most useful feature, integrates all our daily activities which otherwise we perform manually. With Google Now On Tap, you can easily set alarms, reminders and also see ETA to your home or workplace all at one stop.

You can also find nearby restaurants, ATMs, post offices which come handy when you are new to some place.

2. Definitions of Words

Having a dictionary 24/7 is pretty much easy, just install any dictionary app type in any word and you are all set to go. But with Google Now, it’s something remarkable. Just select the word you find difficulty in understanding and Google Now will show you the meaning. Damn easy!

3. Check Authenticity of News Article

Nowadays many fake news articles circulated on social media sites like WhatsApp and Facebook etc. We all have  gone through this.

So to check its authenticity instead of launching your web browser and searching it over the net, you can simply hold your home button and see how other media houses have covered this topic

4. What’s the song

So, you come across a new song on your music player and want to know more about the artist, his upcoming album, tour or so. Simply launch Google Now On Tap and it’ll give you everything you need to know about the song, artist, and even their social media handle.

Realated: How To Find The Name of a Song With Few Information

5. Quick IMDB Review

We all look out for two things before watching any movie or a TV show. First, being the trailer and secondly, it’s IMDB rating.

With Google Now On Tap, you can have a look at both the things simultaneously without quitting any one of these.

6. Identify Images

With this stunning feature, Now On Tap has gone far beyond any expectations. With the help of Image Processing, it can analyze the image and provide context about any famous structures, landmarks, books, movie posters, work of art and much more. It works for both real physical object or the photo of it in a magazine. 

Just launch the camera app, aim your lens at the subject, and press and hold your device’s home button. Google Now on tap will upload the image on its server, (internet connection needed) analyze the image on its server and give you quick info on it. 

 

7. Share Screenshots with a touch

For sharing a screenshot, you normally press and hold 2-3 hardware keys as asserted by your device manufacturer. But with Google Now On Tap, you can share it easily by just holding the home button and then selecting the ‘share’ icon at the bottom right corner of the screen. Google Now on tap will take the screenshot of the current screen and also load a share menu to quickly share that screenshot via other apps. Useful if your hardware keys are not working. 

8. Copy text from any app

There are few Android apps like Facebook, YouTube that doesn’t allow you to select text from its screen. One way of doing it is to install any Universal Copy App.

But why to install anything when you can do it natively. Just hold the home button and select and copy any text that you want.

Related: How to copy unselectable text on the screen

9. OCR- Extract text from any App

The reason being able to select text from any app is that Now On Tap treats it as an image. With that logic, you can also select words that appear on-screen within photos or videos to access any additional info.

You can just launch the camera app and then use the Google Now On Tap to extract that text. Again, since the image processing is done of Google server, this feature will need active internet connection for it to work. 

Related: A Simple Way to Extract Text From Images And Printouts

10. Translate on the go

When you are in a different nation, it becomes pretty much challenging to understand their instructions, names of the places, and much more as most of it is written in their native language.

Now while your tour guide is somewhere else, you can just take out your Android smartphone, open up the camera and Google will translate that for you. You don’t even have to install any other 3rd party translation app for it.

Wrapping Up:

Google Now On Tap is a one-stop portal to access anything that appears on your screen in the fastest possible way. In the bigger frame, Google’s Now On Tap is effectively turning into a universal and versatile system search for Android.

Though you may require an active internet connection as some of its processing work is done on its server itself like identifying objects or extracting text from the images etc.

Hope that helps and do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using Google Now On Tap.

Video: 10 Awesome Things You Can do With Google Now on Tap