Last month, we spotted the YouTube for Android offering to open YouTube Music when playing songs. A new cross-service integration sees the YouTube app recommend new songs from the Music service.
Google was a big HTTPS proponent over the past decade and led a successful adoption push. Chrome is now making further security enhancements by blocking mixed content — insecure http:// subresources on https:// pages — by default.
Following Google Play’s night-friendly appearance more widely rolling out last night, Play Books is gaining a dark theme. It becomes the last modern Android app in the Play family to get the look.
Following the website and mobile apps, the new Google Shopping is officially available in the U.S. This is Google’s new unified service for product lookup and delivery, with Google Lens also picking up a “style ideas” feature today.
With the launch of Android 10 at the beginning of September, there are still some major Google apps that have yet to gain a dark theme. The Play Store is now the latest to roll out a dark theme after the last 24 hours saw both the Google app and Gmail.
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Underpinning Assistant are voice interactions that make day-to-day tasks more natural. Google is now bringing that same level of convenience to those with accessibility needs through Actions Blocks.
Originally announced as a Chrome Extension, Google is expanding and integrating Password Checkup across two key products. This feature, which checks the strength and security of your saved credentials, is coming to the Google Account’s built-in password manager and the Chrome browser.
The Google app has long had a built-in bookmarking feature to save links, images, and places found through Search. An update is rolling out today on Android that redesigns the interface, and prominently elevates it to the bottom bar.
Following the launch of the new Fi Unlimited plan last month, Google today is rolling out a night-friendly look for the Android client. The Google Fi dark theme is a quite straightforward implementation.
While Google Messages adopted a dark theme relatively early on, its implementation did not match other first-party applications. With the latest beta, Google’s default SMS/RCS client now respects the Android 10 dark theme.
Google Duo is becoming more and more of a social app after adding messaging capabilities last year. The Android app is now testing face effects and filters to customize video messages.
Last September, Google Search marked its 20th anniversary and the company laid out plans for the engine’s future. Besides bringing Discover to the web and making Lens available in Images, Google discussed “dynamic organization” for Search results. This feature is now making its way to the desktop web via a subtopics sidebar.
One aspect of Android 10 is increased Privacy protections like restricting location access to when apps are in use and centralized settings. An update to Device Personalization Services today introduces a new control for the system responsible for Android’s smart predictions.
Google Play had a big week that included the Play Pass unveil and a wider dark theme launch. One small, but useful feature that just rolled out are unified “Google Play preferences” that allow you to take bulk actions.
After rolling out to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, version 77 of Chrome OS is now available. Notable Chrome OS 77 features include the wide launch of Virtual Desks and Google Assistant.
Behind-the-scenes, Google requires hardware manufacturers to preinstall certain apps to get access to other first-party services. YouTube Music is now on that list for newly launched Android 10 devices, while the soon-to-be-replaced Play Music is being dropped.
This week saw both the launch of Play Pass and the dark theme actually beginning to roll out. Some users this evening are now encountering a Google Play bug that prevents them from updating Android apps.
In early 2018, Google launched a “hyperlocal” news service called Bulletin. Nextdoor-esque in nature, it remained a “pilot” throughout its entire life and is now being shut down later this year.
With the classic Hangouts transition for G Suite customers delayed until 2020, Google has more time to add functionality to Hangouts Chat and reach feature parity. The Android and iOS apps today are getting a bottom bar redesign that splits “People” and Rooms.”
Google Assistant first debuted on the Pixelbook in 2017 and later came to the Pixel Slate last year. The smart assistant is now coming to non-Made by Google Chromebooks starting today.
Google this morning announced Play Pass, a subscription service that “unlocks” Android app and games. You can use and play without having to pay anything beyond the $4.99 per month fee. We spoke with Google ahead of the announcement and they shared their thinking behind Play Pass. It’s been in development for a “couple of years,” and Google hopes that it helps great content “reach more users at scale.”
Last week, we spotted the Google app adding an Android homescreen shortcut to the built-in dictionary tool. The search engine is now tweaking the layout of definition cards by making synonyms more prominent.
Google is launching its own games — and apps — subscription service for Android. Play Pass provides access to more than 350 “completely unlocked” titles that are free of advertising and in-app purchases.