APK Insight

This week, those enrolled in the Google Play Services beta received an update to version 20.45, which includes work to sync Wi-Fi passwords between your Android phone to your Chromebook.

Google’s Android Auto platform has seen some pretty big updates over the past year, and now it seems another major update is on the horizon. In Android Auto v5.8, Google is laying the groundwork for supporting wallpapers and more.

The primary reason that you may decide to have a Google One subscription is to get extra storage for Google Drive and other apps, but the service has other benefits. Google Photos has now begun to lock some of its editing features behind a Google One paywall for some.

Since its first debut, Google has touted that Stadia can enable features that aren’t possible on non-cloud platforms. One of those features, State Share, is set to get expanded by being integrated directly into Stadia’s screenshot and video capture capabilities.

Long settings pages — no matter how necessary each option is — can be intimidating to users. The Google Play Store is now readying a new settings page that offers an alternate design on Android.

For a few years now, Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs have been able to send and receive calls and text messages from Galaxy phones. While this feature, called “Call and Message Continuity,” currently requires you to use Samsung Messages, it looks like Google Messages may soon gain support for this same continuity.

For a few months now, we’ve been keeping an eye on a new feature for Chrome OS called “Phone Hub” which will deeply connect your Chromebook to your Android phone. Now we’re beginning to see the feature come to fruition on the Android side by way of an update to Google Play Services.

The latest update to Google Stadia for Android, version 2.39, includes preparation for a free trial of Stadia Pro for Google One members.

While fans of using Android in the car may be more excited by the upcoming launch of Google Assistant Driving Mode, Android Auto is preparing improvements of its own with custom shortcuts to Assistant actions and contacts.

Google positions Assistant as being able to provide help throughout your day, and recently rolled out Gentle Sleep & Wake to all smart lights, while Routines let you quickly turn off devices for the night. Google Assistant is now readying integration with health services so that you can verbally ask for fitness and sleep information.

In the US, people rely on SMS and RCS messaging for everything from connecting with friends to account security. To help make your text message inbox less of a cluttered mess, Google Messages is preparing a new “Message Organization” feature, which we were able to get hands-on with.

Ahead of the Launch Night In event where Google is expected to take the wraps off their next Chromecast, the Stadia app has received an update to version 2.36 that includes work on adding your voice to captures, benefits for the referral program, and more details of how family sharing will work.

Google Home 2.28 adds support for OnHub routers and lets you better control notifications. It also reveals “Nest Audio” as the possible name of Made by Google’s next speaker and work on Home/Away Assistant Routines.

Since last year’s Material Theme revamp and dark theme, the Play Store for Android has remained relatively unchanged. Google Play is now working to redesign the “My apps” list, which will soon be called “Manage apps & device,” while we also activated a more integrated P2P sharing experience today.

Back in June, our colleagues at 9to5Mac discovered in the iOS 13.5 beta that Apple was planning to bundle their services into a single subscription. With the latest update to the Apple Music app for Android, we can now confirm that a unified “Apple One” subscription should be coming soon.

It would be an understatement to say that some dislike the upcoming gradual shutdown of Google Play Music in favor of YouTube Music. Ahead of that shutdown, Google appears to be addressing one of the many complaints with YouTube Music by preparing to let you cast uploaded music to smart speakers for free.

Following the Home app last month, one of the last first-party apps that needs a dark mode is Google Maps. Fortunately, the latest version of the Android client finally reveals that work is underway.

One long-running critique of Google Assistant is how it doesn’t play well with work accounts, specifically Calendar events. While there is an Assistant for G Suite beta, it requires users to actively switch accounts. Google might soon let Assistant access data from multiple accounts alongside your primary one.

For a few months now, we’ve been watching as the Google Stadia app prepares to add messaging capabilities. With the release of Stadia 2.32, Google seems to have put the finishing touches in place for messaging to officially launch, as well as UPlay+, a better recruitment system, and more.

Slowly but surely, Google Stadia has been picking up new features, shaping it into a proper gaming platform. Version 2.29 of the Stadia app for Android has arrived in the Google Play Store, bringing with it signs of pre-ordering games, text messaging, and more.