Google Experiment Brings Smart Replies Feature To Popular Messaging Apps

Google appears to be testing a new experimental project called Reply. The new software is being developed by Area 120 and its goal is to bring Google’s Smart Reply feature to a bunch of popular third-party messaging apps.

Smart Reply was first introduced by Google for its email app called Inbox. The feature was designed to automatically suggest quick replies to emails based on the context of the messages received by the user. Smart Reply was later made available to Google’s Allo app and Android Messages, according to Android Central.

Now it appears as though Google wants to bring its Smart Reply feature to other messaging apps as well. Area 120, an experimental program inside Google, developed the new Reply project for this exact purpose. The Reply software is only available for Android devices and users will have to sign up here in order to try it out for themselves.

Reply is now available to some testers who previously signed up to Area 120’s Early Access Program. In an email sent by Area 120 (via Android Police), the team informed testers that the new Reply project should work for Hangouts, Allow, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Android Messages, Skype, Slack and Twitter DMs. Screenshots on how the new software works have already been shared online.

The Reply software is able to suggest Smart Replies to questions like “Are you at the restaurant” and “When can you be home.” The experimental project not only provides simple Smart Replies, it also recommends a specific ETA when users are asked what time they’ll arrive to their destination. It seems as though Reply is able to do this by recognizing the user’s current location.

Aside from providing suggested Smart Replies, Reply also includes a number of other automated features. One of them includes a Do Not Disturb mode that turns on automatically when it detects that the user is driving. There’s also an automated Vacation Responder that is able to check the user’s calendar and tell people that the user is currently not at work. Reply is also able to recognize if a user has received an urgent message. For example, if a user receives a message like “We’re waiting for you!” Reply will make sure to get the user’s attention even when their phone is in silent mode.

So when will Reply be available to all Android users? The new project is still in its early development and Google may not even make it widely available outside of its Area 120 testers.

“One of the many projects that we’re working on within Area 120 is Reply, which suggests smart replies right in notifications from various chat apps,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Like all other projects within Area 120, it’s a very early experiment so there aren’t many details to share right now.”