With Android 12, the Pixel Launcher introduced a new on-device search experience at the top of the app launcher. While it’s temporarily gone from Android 13 Beta 1, the Pixel Launcher is working on search shortcuts beyond the Google app.
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The security industry, as organized by the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, has been working to replace passwords given people’s tendency to use weak ones or reuse them. Two-factor authentication (2FA) has helped to remedy that but the future is “passkeys,” with Android and Google readying support.
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In October of 2020, one Nest Hub Max user managed to get an early look at “Blue Steel.” This capability lets you just gaze at your compatible Smart Display to trigger Google Assistant, and a launch under the name “Look and Talk” might be coming soon.
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It should soon be possible to use the At a Glance widget on Pixel phones to keep track of your grocery orders, including when pickups are ready and when deliveries are on their way.
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A newly uncovered animation of Android’s Tap to Transfer could offer visual hints of the upcoming Nest Hub dockable tablet, or it could be showing nothing at all.
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While Apple in no way invented Bluetooth trackers, AirTags undoubtedly popularized the category this past year. There are ongoing concerns about these readily available devices being used to track people, and tag makers have taken steps to counter that. Google might soon add a Bluetooth tracker detection capability directly into Android.
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Recent reporting suggested that Google Duo would soon be gaining a handful of features to match Google Meet, but our research suggests otherwise.
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Evidence within the Fitbit app suggests that Google’s acquisition has multiple fitness wearables on the horizon, none of which appear to run Wear OS.
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Google’s upcoming “Switch to Android” app for iOS may be able to import data from your iCloud directly into Google Photos.
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Following new widgets for YouTube Music and Google Photos in December, Digital Wellbeing will soon get a screen time widget that shows how much you’ve been on your phone and the top Android apps being used.
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The latest update to the Stadia app for Android points to Google’s game streaming service gaining motion controls, a revamped touch gamepad, and more.
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Google rolled out a Material You redesign for the Play Store in October, but it really only applied to the homescreen. The Play Store will soon get new Material You buttons throughout the app.
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Google Messages is preparing a new setting that will keep you from accidentally zooming and increasing the size of your text.
Update: This option is now rolling out to those in the Google Messages beta.
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As Google starts rolling out iMessage reaction translations, Messages is readying a navigation drawer that surprisingly bucks the company’s recent design trend. Meanwhile, we have more details on how Google Photos media uploads will work.
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The recently launched YouTube Music app for Wear OS is set to gain a home screen Tile to help you jump back into your favorite playlist.
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The latest update to Stadia for Android, version 3.44, is rolling out now via the Play Store and includes early work on a revamped search feature, livestream spectating, and more.
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With the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Now Playing gained a manual lookup capability that appears as a search button on the homescreen. The next Pixel update to Now Playing will introduce the ability to favorite songs and a bottom bar redesign.
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With the Pixel 6, Google announced a big upgrade for At a Glance that it’s been teasing since the Material You reel shared at I/O in May. At a Glance is now set to get even more features that justify the new design that spans the entire width of the Pixel Launcher.
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In July of last year, we spotted development of an “Assistant Chat Head” that never ended up launching. Google is now working on a more useful “Search bubble” chat head that provides quick access to text and voice lookup.
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The latest update to the Stadia app for Android offers our first hints at Dolby surround sound coming soon to the streaming service.
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Stadia 3.38 has begun rolling out to Android devices via the Play Store, and in it, we’ve found “playability tips” to help improve your connection, along with a hint at deeper support for the Stadia Controller in the Android TV app.
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Each year, Pixel phones gain a set of live wallpapers that try to stay in-theme with what the device is trying to accomplish. The only new live wallpapers for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are a set of “Bloom” floral backgrounds that should look familiar.
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Last month, we detailed Google’s work on a feature that lets you skip Assistant’s hotword for select commands. On phones, Assistant “Quick phrases” work differently and in a somewhat more limited manner.
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The latest addition to Google’s rapidly growing catalog of Android homescreen widgets is a handy search widget for Google Maps.
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