Android voice actions just became even more awesome. There are now a hful of third-party apps that will respond to specific voice comms.

Say, “OK , Shazam this song” into your phone, for example, seconds later Shazam is open identifying the music you’re hearing. That’s much easier than fumbling with a touchscreen hoping to get Shazam going before the song ends.

eviously, you could only use voice actions to open third-party apps, using comms such as, “OK , Open Shazam.” ‘s first-party apps have had their own custom voice actions for some time. For example, you can tell ay Music to play a specific song or navigate to a specific place with Maps.

For a comprehensive list of voice actions check out our list of all the Now voice comms.

Right now, the number of third-party apps that work with Android voice actions are extremely limited. didn’t announce a specific number in its announcement on the Android Developers + page; however, ‘s support page for voice actions lists twelve apps:

• Flixster: “Show me Inception on Flixster.”
• Instacart: “Show instacart availability.”
• ncoln: “Start my ncoln MKZ.”
• N One: “sten to N.”
• Realtor.com: “Show rentals near me on Realtor.”
• Shazam: “Shazam this song.”
• TripAdvisor: “Show attractions near me on TripAdvisor.”
• Trulia: “Show homes for sale in Boston on Trulia.”
• TuneIn Radio: “Open TuneIn in car mode.”
• lmart: “Scan my receipt on lmart.”
• nk: “Activate home mode on nk.”
• Zillow: “Show me open houses nearby on Zillow.”

probably should’ve lined up a stronger app selection to debut such a killer feature, but maybe too many app devs are busy getting their Now cards ready for primetime.

The impact on you at home: is on a roll integrating third-party apps into Android. Bringing third-party comms to voice actions follows the expansion of Now cards from third-party apps. Voice actions, however, are by far the more exciting feature. Getting traffic updates workout reminders in Now is nice, but it’s nothing like telling Flixster to start playing a specific movie or starting a ncoln with a voice comm.

Custom voice actions

The new third-party voice actions are part of a new feature is testing called Custom Voice Actions. This appears to be an A that developers can use to harness the power of ‘s voice actions to carry out comms specific to individual apps.

It’s not clear if plans to open up its A to all third-party apps or if it will slowly add specific partners over time as it is doing with Now cards.