YouTube is improving the podcasting experience outside of its Music app with a dedicated “Your podcasts” page.

YouTube is testing a “Hype” feature that lets viewers boost the likelihood of a video “appearing in the rankings with other hyped videos that week.”

A nice quality-of-life improvement for Google Messages lets you tap on contact photos in the conversation view. 

As announced in April, users no longer have access to VPN by Google One today.

At the moment, your Pixel shows a “Phone is getting warm” warning when it’s overheating. Google is working on more descriptive messages that don’t require navigating to an online support article for more information.

After making the miniplayer persistent, the latest update for YouTube Music on the web is a redesign of albums and playlists.

With iOS 14.5, Apple required app developers to tell users about and have them opt-in to broader tracking. In 2021, Google apps stopped certain tracking methods (IDFA) to comply and not have to show that prompt. YouTube will soon ask iOS users if they want to opt into “more personalized advertising” with an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt.

On the web, Gmail is now offering a simple toolbar UI when reading emails and taking action on your inbox.

Since the big revamp last September, Fitbit has been updating more and more of the mobile app. The latest example is a Material You redesign of Fitbit app settings on Android.

Following the European expansion at the start of June, Google is bringing the Gemini app and the latest Gemini Advanced features to India. There’s also some new Gemini in Google Messages developments. 

The June Feature Drop continues to roll out through a series of app updates. Pixel Camera 9.4 brings manual lens section to the Pixel 6/7 Pro and Fold, as well as other tweaks.

The Google app on Android is showing a persistent Search bar at the bottom of any web result or Discover article you open.

YouTube is testing letting viewers leave “helpful notes” on videos that “provide relevant, timely, and easy-to-understand context.”

Chrome for Android has been working on its own text-to-speech (TTS) capability for a few months now, and Google is now rolling out “Listen to this page.”

The latest version of Pixel VPN by Google is rolling out as a Play Store update. Notably, it does not require Android 14 QPR3 to install on the Pixel 7, 7 Pro, 7a, and Fold.

As announced with the June Pixel Feature Drop yesterday, Phone by Google is rolling out its reverse number “Lookup” shortcut.

In a rather interesting move, the search bar in YouTube for Android has gained a new Google Lens integration.

The fitbit.com web dashboard is shutting down next month with Google going all-in on the Fitbit mobile apps for Android and iOS.

Google Play services is currently responsible for the transaction notifications you see after using tap-to-pay, but Google Wallet will soon take over that role.

As announced in February, “GPay” is no longer available in the US. The redesigned Google Pay was announced in 2020 to “make money simple, secure, and helpful” with plans for a “mobile-first bank account” that never came to fruition.