Earlier this week, we spotted how Rich Communication Services became enabled stateside following a Carrier Services update. Google today announced that RCS is now fully available in Messages for Android stateside.

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Following the Play Store and other first-party apps, Google Photos for Android is rolling out a Material Theme account switcher. Unlike those clients, this new UI element neatly incorporates a redesigned backup upload indicator.

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Given people’s general aversion to calling these days, the amount of important communication conducted over texting is not surprising. Google’s Messages app wants to secure this process with Verified SMS, and the first supported businesses have been announced. Meanwhile, spam protection in the client is now rolling out for the US.

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Back in January at CES, Google announced an Interpreter Mode for Smart Displays and speakers. The real-time translation tool is now coming to Assistant for Android and iOS with a new Smart Replies capability.

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October’s visual revamp of the Google Home companion app did nothing to tame the complicated assortment of Assistant device preferences. However, one tweak rolled out this past week tries to clarify how personalization and notification settings — particularly for the Nest Hub — works.

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Back in July, Google redesigned the News tab in desktop Search. Looking for current events on mobile is now getting its own revamp with what Google calls “smarter organization” though machine learning and richer article cards.

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Following the Mac, Windows, and Linux release, Chrome 79 for Android is now rolling out. Tentpole features include password and phishing protections, as well as the ability for PWAs to have maskable icons.

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Chrome 79 will begin rolling out today with new password and phishing protections. This includes integrating Password Checkup, as well as real-time and predictive phishing protections, to keep users safe from malicious sites and prevent account compromise.

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ARCore is Google’s platform for augmented reality available to Android and iOS apps. To allow for more immersive experiences, a new ARCore Depth API allows any compatible phone to create depth maps from a single camera.

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Google Assistant support for third-party note and list taking providers has been a long time coming. It’s finally here with integration for Google Keep and three other services rolling out today, while Assistant is picking up two voice capabilities for photos and podcasts.

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At launch last month, browsing and purchasing games for Stadia was limited to the Android and iOS apps. Google today is bringing the Stadia Store online for desktops.

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Over the past several weeks, gapless playback rolled out to some YouTube Music subscribers. The capability is now officially available for all Premium users on the Android app and web client.

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When getting a package tracking number, most people today just Google it, as the search engine has long been able to direct users to the correct shipping carrier’s site. Google Search package tracking could soon be directly integrated.

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At I/O 2019 in May, Google announced the latest Digital Wellbeing features to build on last year’s initial launch. In testing for the past several months, Focus mode for Android is now rolling out with new features following beta feedback.

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Google Play this year rolled out a big Android redesign and corresponding dark theme. In October, we spotted work on a Material Theme account switcher and it’s now beginning to roll out alongside a new splash screen.

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The Google Assistant on Android is testing a new feature for users who prefer keyboard input over voice. This experiment adds autocomplete suggestions above the text field, similar to the Google app when searching the web. 
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With the year coming to a close in a matter of weeks, it’s time for annual recaps. Google today published the Play Store’s Best of 2019 that takes a look at apps, games, movies, television shows, and books/audiobooks.

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Despite the explosive growth of rivals, Netflix is still one of the biggest players in the streaming world. Now, it appears Netflix is testing a new menu that contains several options including the long-awaited shuffle button for TV shows.

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Google frequently updates and tweaks Search algorithms to improve the accuracy of results. The latest change is focused on improving Google’s local search results by leveraging an AI-based system known as neural matching.

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