The Hand Raise feature in Google Meet is getting a slew of updates over the coming weeks. Everything from the end user to host experience is seeing an upgrade. 

Last year, Google announced that the future of Gmail will see Chat messaging and group Rooms join the existing Meet video calling integration. This is already available to enterprise Workspace users, and Google is now letting personal Gmail accounts get this “integrated workspace.”

Knowledge Panels in Google Search are available for notable places, organizations, things, and people. The latter category includes journalists, with Google now showing a Knowledge Panel carousel of their published articles.

Besides astrophotography time lapse, the key addition from June’s Pixel Feature Drop is the Google Photos Locked Folder that was first announced at I/O. It’s now beginning to roll out via a server-side update.

Google is rolling out a new Search Console Insights tool that provides creators with an overview of how their content is performing. It’s meant to be an “easier way to understand how your content resonates with readers.”

Back in November, Google announced that it would start testing end-to-end encryption in Messages for Android. After being limited to the beta channel, E2EE is now rolling out to all stable users.

Back in April, Google activated the Android Earthquake Alerts System in Greece and New Zealand. This Google Play services-powered mechanism is now live in seven more nations as the global launch gets underway.

In addition to Gmail, Meet, and other Workspace announcements today, Google Docs and Drive will soon get Client-side encryption where “customer data is indecipherable to Google.”

Google has been rapidly iterating on Meet in the past year, and that’s continuing today alongside updates to Gmail and Workspace. Google Meet is getting a “Companion Mode” to provide a second-screen experience as part of a push to make hybrid meetings more equitable.

Back in October, G Suite became Google Workspace for enterprise and later education, as well as nonprofit, customers. Google Workspace is now available “for everyone,” meaning that regular users with free accounts can access a more integrated productivity experience that merges Gmail, Chat, and Meet.

A key part of Google’s integrated vision for productivity is routing everything through the Gmail apps. As part of Workspace becoming available “for everyone,” Gmail is getting streamlined navigation on the web, while Google Chat’s “Rooms” will soon be called “Spaces.”

The Pixel Launcher is one hallmark of Made by Google phones that has remained relatively unchanged over the years. Google is now letting you disable weather from appearing at the top of the Pixel Launcher in At a Glance.

Back in March, Google Fit rolled out camera-powered heart and respiratory rate tracking. Google is now adding a “Paced Walking” activity for Fit that offers somewhat of a guided experience.

This quarter’s Pixel Feature Drop is primarily focused on camera features from Night Sight video to the Locked Folder. Google Camera 8.2.400 with astrophotography time lapse is still rolling out via the Play Store, but you can also download the new version immediately.

Last year, Google started showing a search engine “choice screen” to those setting up Android devices in Europe following an antitrust ruling. Google is now updating it to include more providers and make “participation free.”

Towards the end of last year, Google One introduced a virtual private network to make the storage subscription a more enticing offering. The Google One client now lets you specify what apps can bypass the VPN. 

For some users, Assistant has a tendency to pick up “Hey Google” and answer on the wrong Smart Display/speaker. Google is now soliciting feedback when the wrong Home activates with a “Which device did you expect to respond?” notification.

With the launch of the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G last year, Photos got a redesigned editing experience focused on smart suggestions and more granular controls. A small tweak today sees the Markup tools for drawing and adding text get elevated in the Google Photos editor.

Following a partial outage with Fitbit just last week, Strava is now having major sync issues with Google Fit. The problem emerged over the past few hours and involves Google throwing a “This app is blocked” warning message.