Google Meet continues its onslaught of pre-announced features today with the launch of custom backgrounds during video calls. This customization is a staple of modern conferencing apps, and one that helps convey “more of your personality.”
Expand Expanding Close
As of the start of this month, Workspace customers can get access to an integrated Gmail experience that includes Chat and Rooms. Google is now boosting the Gmail experience by letting Chat users set an “away” or “Do not disturb” status.
Expand Expanding Close
Back in July, Google’s storage subscription service made phone backups free on Android and announced plans for iOS. The next move for Google One is including a VPN on higher storage tiers.
Expand Expanding Close
Depending on your usage habits, the close integration between YouTube and YouTube Music is either a blessing or a curse. Google is now working on a YouTube Music setting to separate liked videos.
Expand Expanding Close
Google’s editing applications can open and edit Microsoft files, with that capability recently coming to Android. When opening Office files from the Drive web client, Google will now directly open them in editing mode.
Expand Expanding Close
For the past several weeks, Google’s primary streaming service has been A/B testing a number of changes to its personalized playlists. YouTube Music is now going ahead with another that renames “Your Mix” to “My Supermix.”
Expand Expanding Close
The latest version of the Google Home app is rolling out with support for the new Nest Thermostat. Available now on iOS and making its way to Android, it suggests the latest smart home device from Made by Google is coming sooner than later.
Expand Expanding Close
YouTube today announced a series of Android and iOS updates as part of a video player page redesign. The general look stays the same, but the Google company has worked to optimize button placement and layouts, while adding some convenient shortcuts.
Expand Expanding Close
In addition to a Docs, Sheets, and Slides expansion, Google Workspace Add-ons for Gmail are becoming more feature-rich. New Compose-time functions let third-party Add-ons “modify and format your messages” in Gmail.
Expand Expanding Close
In addition to YouTube Music, Google today is bringing iOS 14 home screen widgets to Photos. It delightfully lets you see “memories” every time you unlock your iPhone or iPad.
Expand Expanding Close
At the start of August, Google provided an official timeline for shutting down YouTube Music’s predecessor. Google Play Music has now stopped working for many users on Android, iOS, and the web.
Expand Expanding Close
Google Shopping launched last year with a nifty price tracking feature that notifies you of sales. Ahead of the holiday season, Google Shopping is adding “price insights.”
Expand Expanding Close
Back in July, Google said it was bringing over a key Nest feature to Assistant with “presence sensing.” After detailing late last month, the Home & Away Routines are now rolling out to the Google Home app.
Expand Expanding Close
After coming to Gmail, Calendar, and Drive, the Google Workspace Add-ons side panel will soon be available in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google today also showed off a useful Translate integration.
Expand Expanding Close
Ahead of the Play Music shutdown, Google has been working to add key functionality to the YouTube-based alternative, especially for free users. The YouTube Music app for Android Auto now works to play uploaded tracks.
Expand Expanding Close
Google last year brought AMP to Gmail to make messages more actionable and interactive. Drive will now send dynamic emails to let file owners manage requests directly inside Gmail.
Expand Expanding Close
At the start of this year, we reported that Google Photos was trialing a subscription where your best pictures get automatically printed monthly. The premium print series is now official and rolling out soon, while Google Photos is also expanding its other physical offerings.
Expand Expanding Close
After adding a Web Stories carousel, Google Discover is making two tweaks to cards. The first sees a “heart” being used for feedback, while Discover on some articles will link to Google News full coverage.
Expand Expanding Close
Ahead of an upcoming Control Center integration in iOS 14.2, Shazam for Android is getting a persistent notification to initiate music identification from anywhere on your phone or tablet.
Expand Expanding Close
Back in August, a “Hey Google, show me my day” command was added to quickly launch Assistant’s recap feed on Android. Google also previewed a number of other Assistant Snapshot features coming, with “Catch up on news” and a FAB with shortcuts now widely available.
Expand Expanding Close
With 18 days til US elections, Google is rolling out a number of features across Assistant, Maps, and Search that will help people vote.
Expand Expanding Close
Google today lets users set their preferred video, music, radio service for use on Assistant Smart Displays, speakers, and phones. Google Assistant now has a settings page for podcast services.
Expand Expanding Close
Google’s last announcement at Search On 2020 will likely be its most popular. Starting today, you can “Hum to Search” using Google to find out what song has been stuck in your head.
Expand Expanding Close
At the tail end of 2018, we reported on Google’s plans to replace Hangouts with Chat and Meet. The company later confirmed the news and has since been moving enterprise users to those two apps. Google is now ready to start detailing how it will transition classic Hangouts users to a free version of Chat.
Expand Expanding Close