Google today announced the latest set of policy changes to limit extensions abuse and improve security of the Chrome Web Store. This includes requiring 2FA for Chrome Web Store developers and cracking down on deceptive installations.

Google introduced the Android App Bundle format in May of 2018 at I/O as part of its modern development push. The AAB standard will become the default for new applications published to the Play Store this August. 

After announcing a handful of new education features just last week, Google is updating the privacy and security defaults for students using Chrome, as well as accounts and other apps, managed by schools. 

In addition to different applications being accessible all on one page, Google’s vision for the future of productivity involves having those services be tightly integrated together. The latest example of this will see Google suggestions for 1:1s in Chat based on Calendar.

As we spotted in development last year, Google Messages will now “automatically sort your messages into categories.” This feature, along with auto-deleting one-time passwords (OTPs), is rolling out starting in India.

Back in November, Google announced a suite for new features for Chrome, from performance improvements to tab search and address bar actions. Another, which is seeing a wider launch now, helps “pick up where you left off” by surfacing cards in Chrome’s New Tab Page. 

As previewed earlier in February, Google today fully detailed the YouTube TV 4K Plus package. There are three big tentpoles for an additional $20 every month on top of the $65 base package.

Gmail has seen a number of big changes in recent weeks, but Google is now rolling out a smaller one to the web client that better surfaces the advanced search capability to end users.

Last June, Google redesigned the Photos app with cleaner navigation, new logo, and a map view. In response to “user feedback and comments,” Google Photos is reverting one change to bring the “Sharing” tab back to the bottom bar.

Last month, Google started rolling out an online revamp of Chat to free consumer accounts as part of the classic Hangouts migration. That Google Chat web redesign is now coming to paid Workspace users over the coming weeks with a number of enhancements.

Google has trained Search to “detect when a topic is rapidly evolving” and will now display a “changing quickly” notice when a “range of sources hasn’t yet weighed in.” It comes as information around breaking or emerging news “may not be the most reliable.”

Over the past few weeks, Google has introduced standalone preference pages for various Assistant features. The latest sees Google Assistant settings for the Android “Lock screen.”

Following a slew of Workspace developments in recent weeks, Google Contacts is getting visual tweaks and more information that’s particularly beneficial for people within a company.

At the start of 2020, Google announced a plan to make third-party cookies “obsolete” in Chrome as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative. In an update, the company said “more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right” but did provide a more firm timeline today.

Google’s fast iteration on Meet continues with a series of upcoming new features for education customers. One particular highlight for Google Meet “in the coming months” is the return of YouTube livestreams.

Starting on Android 12, Google is rolling out the next big redesign of Discover. This visual revamp of the feed was first introduced on iOS and is now coming to Android.

Following the official launch last week, Google Chat is picking up improved search. Starting on Android, the experience is adding filters to “help you find artifacts like files and links more easily.”

Google today announced “Ads Creative Studio” as a “unified home for creative tools” that span across video, display, and audio advertising. The goal is to simplify the ad creation process with more collaboration features.

From rolling out end-to-end encryption to the upcoming ability to star messages, Google’s RCS/SMS client has seen a number of feature additions recently. You can now pinch-to-zoom to change the font size in Google Messages for Android.

In addition to letting specific Android apps always bypass the VPN, Google One now lets you temporarily snooze the secure connection on Android. 

With iOS 14 last year, Apple introduced Picture-in-Picture to let you watch video in a floating window while using other tasks. The YouTube app is finally adding support for PiP on iPhone and iPad. 

Google today notified users of a change to how Fit works to calculate some metrics. End users of the Google Fit apps should not see a real impact due to this, but “some data” will be deleted in 30 days.