Niantic has announced that over 500 million Pokémon have been caught during the first two days of a week-long Global Catch Challenge. The achievement unlocked the first set of rewards to everyone participating …
In response to screen retention/burn-in issues on the Pixel 2 XL, Google announced last month that it would encourage developers to adopt a light navigation bar. Gmail with version 7.11 is the latest app to switch, while also adding shortcuts for Google Calendar and Contacts.
The latest update to YouTube TV for Android is rolling out and brings a major feature from the main YouTube app to the cord-cutting service. With version 1.11, Oreo users can finally watch video using Picture-in-Picture mode.
Gboard, Google’s keyboard for Android, has seen a lot of improvements in the past several months, and today another one is starting to roll out. Contained inside, users will find new stickers, as well as support for quite a few more languages.
Back in October, we noted that Google was advertising Allo at university campuses around the nation. Heavily emphasizing the “smart group chats” feature, it included physical posters and Snapchat filters. Google’s latest advertising campaign for the messaging app now involves a food truck.
Version 7.16 of the Google app rolled out in beta last week and revealed more about Assistant Routines and improvements to the built-in podcast player, among other updates. We’ve since been able to activate some new features that detail some minor tweaks in the works.
For the past few teardowns of the Google app, we’ve spotted a Calendar setting among Google Assistant’s list of services. This control is now beginning to rollout and allows users to manage Google Calendar, but only on Google Home speakers.
Back in October, several Googlers noted that Google Lens would be coming to Assistant “in the next few weeks.” On Friday evening, the first users have spotted the visual search feature up and running on their Pixel and Pixel 2 phones.
The first 4K movies began rolling out to the U.S. and Canadian Play Store last December. Since then, Apple’s iTunes has also rolled out higher-quality films with a free upgrade for past purchases. Google might finally be expanding the content to other countries as the first 4K UHD movie in the UK is now available for purchase.
Since its launch in 2015, many publishers have adopted Accelerated Mobile Pages for the loading speed benefit they provide. However, some sites are using AMP as teaser pages that require a second click to view a full article. To combat this, Google Search is adopting a content parity requirement next year.
Last month, Google announced dedicated YouTube TV apps for its cord-cutting streaming solution. Having launched first on Android TV and Xbox, the client is now available on 2016 and 2017 LG and Samsung televisions.
Last week, Google announced a crackdown on apps that do not use Accessibility Services for its intended purpose. This was specifically intended to counter a “toast overlay” attack. While a good security move, it seemingly put popular apps like password managers at risk of no longer functioning.
Fortunately, Google is giving services like LastPass an exemption for the moment as it works towards a long-term solution with Autofill in Oreo.
In our teardown of Google Allo 22, we spotted the messaging service working on new functionality like audio clip transcription and improved replies. Those features are not yet available, but some other ones — including group chat controls and Selfie clips — that we’ve long activated are now live.
Google Maps across all platforms is getting a significant interface refresh that better highlights relevant information depending on your mode. Announced today, this is primarily achieved thanks to a new and refreshed icon/color system.
With last week’s redesign, the Google Assistant gained an updated interface on Android. Today, a refreshed look that we previously activated is also coming to the Explore tab, along with a number of other changes to improve both Assistant app discovery and functionality.
Google’s rollout of Android apps on Chrome OS has been very slow, but it’s finally starting to pick up steam and expand to more and more Chromebooks in the stable release channel. As of today, Google has flipped the switch on Android apps on nearly 60 different Chromebooks.
Launched at I/O 2017, Actions on Google is continuing its international expansion with the addition of Canadian English. Starting today, Canadian users will get access to Assistant apps and a directory optimized for the country, while developers will now be able to localize their apps.
This morning Google announced several new features for the Home app, including improved search and advanced audio controls like bass and treble. These changes are rolling out with version 1.26 of the app, with a teardown also revealing the addition of support for the Google Home Max launching next month. It also details upcoming features and possibly a new device.
One of the many announcements from I/O 2017 was TensorFlow Lite for machine learning on mobile devices. Starting today, the Android and iOS optimized version of the ML library is now available as a developer preview.
Coinciding with the October 4th hardware event, the Google Home companion app was completely redesigned with a simpler bottom bar interface. Today, Google announced a handful of new features for it, including search improvements and advanced sound settings for speakers.
Google Assistant finally made its way to Android TV in the past few weeks, and as it expands, developers are making updates to add integration. Now, Plex is playing nicely with Assistant.
A month ago, version 7.14 of the Google app included the first references to Google Assistant for tablets. That functionality is likely nearing a launch as the latest beta of the Google app now lists Assistant as available for the category of larger devices.
News broke over the weekend that Google was instructing Android developers that don’t use Accessibility Services for its intended purpose to strip away that functionality from apps. It has now surfaced that this change is related to a “toast overlay” attack that tricks users into installing malware by masking parts of the interface.
One of the cooler features announced at this year’s October 4th event was a broadcast feature that turned Google Home into an intercom-like system. Today, that feature is finally rolling out to Assistant devices, including phones and speakers.