Google rolled out an update to its flagship app on Thursday that lets the app make dinner reservations and give better directions and reminders.
Conversational search, which allows you to search Google the way you speak, has been a part of the search app for a while, but the update improves its ability to recognize relevant information.
[seealso slug= "google-tools/"]
If a hotel reservation is stored in your Gmail account, for example, you can say: "OK, Google, show me restaurants near my hotel."
The app will also reserve you a table at restaurants -- provided the restaurant is connected to OpenTable. Or, if you only want to explore the menu of a particular restaurant, you can ask Google to show you menu items for a particular establishment.
The update also improves the app's notifications to surface travel-related reminders at times when they will be most relevant to you.
You can get reminders on where to pick up your rental car or when it’s time to leave to catch your flight, according to a blog post from Google senior engineer Pravir Gupta. It can also provide alternate options if your flight is delayed or canceled.
The updated app, which is available for iOS and Android on Thursday, also allows you to ask more types of followup question to previous queries without repeating the same information.
An earlier version of this post misstated the name of the app, which is "Google" not "Google Search." We regret the error.