After beginning its rollout a month ago, Google Play Protect in the Play Store is now widely showing up for many users. Play Protect is just a rebrand of existing security features long found in Play Services, but is now more prominent and visible within Android.
With many recent and upcoming phones now Daydream-ready, Google’s VR platform is beginning to gain traction, especially as standalone headsets are coming later this year. The company has now launched new developer tools for building and learning in VR.
Approximately two weeks after Hurricane Harvey, another major storm is expected to make landfall this weekend in Florida. Following relief efforts in Texas, Google Maps will be marking closed roads in real-time to help with evacuation efforts.
Google has become known for testing new features for its apps/services with users, and YouTube has been no exception. This morning, we spotted a new addition to the Home page on the YouTube Android app, and to be perfectly honest, it’s incredibly annoying.
On July 9, 2012, Google officially released Google Now with the launch of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Along with the introduction of the famous “Ok, Google” voice commands, this also saw the release of Google Now cards. Google rebranded these cards as Google Feed earlier this summer, and today, Google is launching Feed outside of the United States so that more people than ever can access and use it.
Early last month, we spotted Twitter testing its Android/iOS night mode on the web. The social network today announced that it is rolling out the feature to all users beginning today.
Launched in July, Backup and Sync is Google’s consumer sync client aimed mostly at regular consumers, replacing Google Drive for Mac/PC. At the same time, Google also developed a client that was especially suited for enterprise needs. After months of testing, the specialized Drive File Stream app is now launching.
One of the key parts of the Pixel experience last year was helping users switch from iPhones and other Android devices, with Google including a USB adaptor in the box to sync data during the initial set up process. That “Data Transfer Tool” hit the Play Store earlier this morning with a screenshot of a phone that very much looks like the Pixel 2.
If you’re a business-owner, chances are good your company is listed in Google Search results giving better visibility to existing and potential customers. Today, Google announced that it’s revamping the way that these business listings are edited — allowing users to make changes and updates directly within Google Search.
Following this afternoon’s rollout to Mac, Windows, and Linux, the latest version of Chrome for Android has hit the stable channel. Version 61 includes several new user-facing features, including an updated Google Translate toolbar and vastly improved contextual Share menu. The bottom bar redesign also appears to be rolling out.
Chrome 61 is rolling out today to desktops in the stable channel with a number of developer-focused features and the usual security fixes. For Mac, Windows, and Linux, it adds a new WebUSB API for peripherals, as well as some minor behavior changes.
After rolling out a Material redesign and slew of features for users last week, YouTube is adding new tools for its Creators. Centered around livestreams, there is now a “ultra-low latency” mode to stay engaged with fans, while live chat moderation has been improved. Meanwhile, the main YouTube iOS app adds screen sharing.
Google Voice made a triumphant return early this year with a fresh coat of paint, new features, and all of the functionality we knew and loved back in the day. In the time since, Google hasn’t given the service a ton of attention, and there are still a lot of features that need to be added to bring it up to par with Google’s other messaging options. Today, Google confirmed one of those is coming — “OK Google” support.
Between Samsung’s event in New York City a couple weeks back and all of the device announcements from IFA, there’s been a flood of new Android phones and other gadgets to keep track of. The Galaxy Note 8 and Sony Xperia XZ1 are two of the bigger phones to come out of these past two weeks, and both are officially supported for Netflix HDR streaming.
A host of new features were discovered in a recent teardown of version 9.60 of Google Maps — including picture-in-picture for navigation, the ability for local guides to publish videos, food reviews, and more. Picture-in-picture (PiP) functionality is currently only been available after first entering a key code, but it looks like the full public rollout is coming soon.
At the end of June, Google started rolling out the version 2.0 update to its YouTube app for Android TV. This update ushered in a much-needed design refresh, and while it was an improvement in most areas, it quickly received backlash for dropping support for brand channels and the ability to switch channels. Thankfully, this is changing with the latest 2.01 update.
Version 3.4 of Google Photos began rolling out earlier this week on Android with one new major feature. As revealed by its changelog, the backup solution now has a video caching feature for faster playback, while app shortcuts have been removed.
The latest version of the Google app rolled out to iOS yesterday with a number of new features centered around making Search faster. “Instant answers” are already found on the web and provide the results of basic queries without having to complete a search, while the Google app will now list trending searches around you.
Since Twitter rolled out its “new look” in June, its Android client has been updated with an automatic night mode and reduce motion setting. The latest beta version of the app redesigns the night toggle in the navigation drawer, while also finally updating app shortcuts with the new iconography.
The LG V30 was just announced this morning and it has a lot of attractive selling points, but one of the biggest is the new display. The 6-inch 18:9 OLED panel is gorgeous in person and is also HDR certified. Now, Netflix is adding official support for HDR playback on the V30.
Earlier this year, Google Assistant added a useful and quick shortcut for taking a screenshot. Assistant is now adding the ability to capture your screen by verbally asking or typing “Take a screenshot.”
Alongside yesterday’s complete overhaul of YouTube on desktop and mobile, the Google company also redesigned its iconic logo. The main clients were not the only applications to get a new icon as YouTube Kids also received revamped branding yesterday that unfortunately looks like it was drawn by a kid.
Previously, if you wanted to watch content from Amazon Prime on your Android device, you had to jump through several hoops and sideload several APKs. Amazon is changing all of that as it has uploaded its Prime Video app to the Play Store for users from all over the world to download…
Gboard 6.5 is now rolling out to all users after entering beta earlier this month. Sticker integration was the major addition in this update and allows for users to insert stickers, similar to GIFs, into compatible text fields. At launch, Bitmoji was a major partner, but Google has now detailed how developers can surface their artwork in the Gboard sticker collection.