In addition to rolling out a newly-organized Library that takes inspiration from Google’s previous streaming service, YouTube Music is adopting a search feature from Play Music.
Most people this year will be celebrating Easter indoors. Google is marking the occasion with some virtual whimsy through new easter eggs in Search.
From a homescreen widget to Assistant integration, the Google app is how the company wants you to access Search on Android. Yet, it’s always lacked one key feature compared to the mobile experience. The Google app beta yesterday finally added “Search Tools” and filters on Android.
Originally billed as providing fast access to search, the Google keyboard has since grown to include many expressive features and a built-in clipboard. A Gboard for Android bug this evening sees the Google button disappear.
Distance learning amid the coronavirus pandemic has pushed many to tools like Google Classroom and Meet. Google today provided new usage figures for the two products, detailed a new Meet-Classroom integration, and extended how long premium features will be available for free.
This week saw Hangouts Meet become Google Meet amid a surge in video conferencing usage. Hangouts Chat is picking up a new feature that lets you forward messages to Gmail.
Android in recent years has added a number of accessibility features, including Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier. Google is now rolling out a virtual braille keyboard to most modern Android devices.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many are using video conferencing to work and learn remotely. For Google, its Meet service is seeing the brunt of use by enterprise and education customers. Classic Hangouts was updated on iOS today with a warning that video quality might be reduced.
One persistent YouTube trend sees the apps and web client adopting larger video previews. The latest example of this is an A/B test that sees full-width YouTube thumbnails in search results.
Last month, Google’s cord cutting television service was mired in contract disputes and lost Fox Region Sport Networks in some parts of the country. YouTube TV for Android is now rolling out a dark mode.
After rolling out to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, version 81 of Chrome OS is now available. The most notable feature in Chrome OS 81 is new gesture navigation for touchscreen devices.
After a coronavirus-related delay, Google is rolling out the latest version of Chrome for Mac, Windows, and Linux today. Chrome 81 more widely introduces Tab Groups as a way to manage what you have open.
In 2018, Google Fit received a big redesign that introduced Move Minutes and Heart Points as an easy to digest health metric. After coming to iOS last year, the mobile and Wear OS apps are getting a redesign today that emphasizes step count.
With search queries about COVID-19 surpassing even those for weather and the news, Google in recent weeks has worked to compile that information together. In Google News, there is a new COVID-19 hub, while Assistant and Podcasts have similar experiences.
From today’s Doodle to PSAs and Knowledge Panels, Google Search is home to a number of resources about COVID-19. In recent weeks, the company has provided ways for important sites to surface related information. The latest effort will see Google directly highlight announcements from health agencies and other government sites.
Google Assistant’s predecessor was generically known as “voice search” and activated with the “Ok Google” hotword. Despite being several years old, the capability still exists today in the Google app on Android. However, the most recent beta removes that old voice search UI.
There are a lot of different ways to enjoy your favorite podcasts including Google’s own experience. A unique option, though, is called Breaker, a social podcast app that recently updated its Android app with some useful improvements.
The last major addition to Keep’s online client was a dark mode last July. A tweak sees a new docked sidebar for Google Keep that’s always visible on the web and works like Gmail’s.
In February, Google Assistant began testing revamped notification settings for Android devices. These unified controls for the sprawling number of alerts that Assistant sends to phones and tablets is now rolling out.
For the past several weeks, Google has been leveraging all of its platforms to provide quick access to information about the coronavirus. The latest sees Assistant’s new Snapshot feed gain a “COVID-19 alert” card with some useful tips.
If you’ve ever looked for a good weather app, Dark Sky was probably on the list of recommendations. That’s well-deserved as the app was well built on both Android and iOS with a clean design, great features, and excellent weather forecasts too. Now, Apple has acquired Dark Sky and killed off the Android app. If, like me, that’s left you wondering what to move on to, here are the best weather apps for Android.
Compared to the main site, YouTube Music lacks social features like comments and offers more of an individual experience. That said, it still has public, shareable playlists and Google looks to be ramping up that capability with user channel pages in YouTube Music.
Back in February, the Google app beta started testing a Lab that brings Doodles to the homescreen of non-Pixel devices. In a sign that this delightful customization is exiting preview soon for all Android phones, there is now a “Show Doodles on search widget” setting.