In the past, all sharing notifications involving Google Drive files were handled through email. However in November, Google added the ability for the Drive apps to send notifications. An update rolling out today finally adds settings to control these notifications from the mobile apps.
Google Keep was announced as a minimalist note taking and reminders app in 2013. An update to the service today finally adds a unified settings panel on the web and in the Android app.
Google Forms is getting a welcomed update today that brings an enhanced user interface and new features for all users and some specifically for Google Apps for Work and Education users.
WhatsApp has been testing the new emoji introduced as part of Unicode 9.0 since early December. The beta test is now over and they are rolling out (as spotted by Android Police) a score of new emoji to users today.
While the last update to Google Maps for Android brought a smart ‘Driving Mode‘, version 9.20 adds a slew of new minor features, including the ability to manually add places to your timeline, photos in user reviews, and more turn-by-turn navigation settings.
The Play Store currently recommends apps based on various signals from the people you follow on Google+. Starting with version 6.2, the store will also begin using a user’s Gmail itinerary to make app suggestions. Here’s how it will work:
Since late last year, there have been reports of Nexus devices running Android Marshmallow not getting Gmail notifications until the app was manually opened. Google has been investigating the issue for a while now and has finally come up with a fix that will be rolled out to users over the next week.
For safety reasons, Android Auto’s third-party apps are limited to those that playback media from your phone. At that, they share a pretty consistent user interface. Yesterday, an update to the Audible app added an Android Auto component and other playback features.
Last July, Google-owned Waze began a small, private beta test of a ride-sharing service in its native Israel. Launched under the name RideWith by Wave, the service has since been renamed Waze Rider and now has a dedicated app in the Play Store.
Google and the rest of the tech industry take security very seriously. As part of this year’s Safer Internet Day, Google is offering users 2GB of Drive storage if they perform a security check on their account. In another security minded update, Gmail will now flag emails sent to and received from non-encrypted sources.
The Android version of popular password manager 1Password has received a big update to version 6. In addition to a full Material redesign, the app now has support for Marshmallow’s fingerprint unlocking. The app made by AgileBits is free to download and premium features are accessible via a one-time in-app purchase.
Play Newsstand has a surprisingly large user base due to the fact that it is pre-installed on most Android devices. Earlier this month, the app was updated with some visual tweaks to the main feed and article layout. Today, users in eight Middle Eastern countries will be able to buy paid content from the app.
Facebook loves to A/B test new features and interfaces with a small and random subset of users before a full rollout. A few weeks ago the company began testing a Material Design refresh for Messenger. Some users are now seeing a new variant that sports a blue action and top bar.
Improved Hangouts is one of the most common requests from Android users. According to a rumor late last year, Google is working on making it a better chat client by removing SMS capabilities. It now appears that as a part of that Hangouts will use a peer-to-peer connection when possible.
Both of Google’s excellent photo apps received an update this week. Version 1.13 of Google Photos adds a new feature to easily look at other photos taken on the same day when in search, while Snapseed now has several new automatic features, like face detection.
Over the past few months, Sony has been testing various concept software, offering it up to Xperia owners as part of a limited public beta test. One XDA Developers member was able to port the home launcher and release it as a downloadable APK which works on any Android device with Lollipop or later, and doesn’t require rooting. Needless to say, we were eager to go hands-on…
Update: VentureBeat received information from a source, shedding a little more light on the situation.
A source close to the situation indicates that Google considers this a “unique case” because two apps are required to invoke the ad blocking. Furthermore, the source adds that Google has no problem with browsers which can block ads within themselves via built-in functionality (like Adblock Browser) or via plugins.
Earlier in the week, Samsung’s new browser API meant developers, if they wanted to, could build ad-blocking apps to work alongside the browser. It’s similar to the ad-blocking feature Apple introduced in iOS 9 with Safari, which lead to a number of ad and tracker-blocking apps become popular within the first few weeks of iOS 9’s arrival.
With this feature added, more developers could develop standalone ad-blockers for Android which work with Samsung‘s mobile browser. It turns out however, that Google has pulled some apps, and rejected updates for others. It seems the company isn’t keen on having standalone apps — designed to work alongside browsers to block ads — on the Play Store…
Google’s previous attempt to bring books into the modern age involved digitizing and making them searchable. A new experiment between their Creative Lab and Visual Editions, a London-based publisher, have resulted in Editions at Play. In essence, they are interactive ebooks that are worthy of not immediately being written off as a gimmick.
Apple has some good news for all of the Apple Music users on Android. The company has just released an update to Apple Music in the Google Play Store that allows users to download songs to an SD card so that they may store even more music for offline listening.
The beautiful and widely praised Alto’s Adventure is coming to the Play Store with a free-to-pay model on February 11th. The game was first released on iOS nearly a year ago and will also be available in the Amazon App Store.
It wasn’t that long ago that rumors predicted that Google was planning to bring a new podcasts feature to its popular Play Music app. This would see Google add yet another media platform to its already large list of options available in the Play Store. With it already offering books, movies, music downloads and streaming, apps and games, it would mean Google would now offer virtually every kind of popular media. Popular podcaster, Bill Simmons confirmed the move on Twitter before taking down his tweet earlier today.
Thanks to Android Police, we now have a good idea as to what the podcasts user interface will look like and the features it’ll bring along with it…
When Nintendo first announced that it would finally be launching a smartphone game, it’s safe to say, many of us children of the 90’s got a little excited. Sadly, we got excited too soon. Excitement turned to bemusement once the company revealed it would be launching a weird game called Miitomo, which wasn’t exactly a game, but rather a social network.
Following its disappointing Q4 results, Nintendo has confirmed that its second title would include a “very familiar character”, and won’t be another social network attempt. It did, however, stop short of confirming exactly which character we’re going to see.
While Chrome 50 is expected to bring Material Design by default to desktop browsers and Chrome OS, version 49 will introduce more low laying features for developers. Notably, improved background sync, better JavaScript performance, a new API for recording audio and video, and a host of other features…
Unlike most routers that remain static after you purchase them, Google’s line of OnHub routers are meant to receive software updates and new features. While it launched without the standard feature of a guest Wi-Fi network, an update rolling out this week to both models remedies that…