Last month, Google updated At a Glance with flashlight reminders and Nest Doorbell alerts. The Pixel At a Glance widget could soon get a “Cross Device Timer” capability that integrates with Google Home.
Expand Expanding Close
For quite some time, the Google Weather app could only be found on Android phones, but it’s now coming to tablets.
Expand Expanding Close
Nearly two years after the last settings redesign, Google is taking another stab at making it easier to control and manage the ever-growing list of what Assistant can do.
Expand Expanding Close
Following the ongoing removal of Assistant Snapshot on Android, the Google for iOS app looks to be adding a “Notifications” tab.
Expand Expanding Close
Similar to desktop Search changes last week, the Google app on Android has been updated with a darker dark theme as part of today’s beta.
Expand Expanding Close
With the first beta channel release of 2022, the Google app introduced a bug that sees its Chrome Custom Tab break and all web pages open in your default browser on Android.
Expand Expanding Close
In addition to a bottom field, the Google app is testing a Search bar that appears at the very top of your screen. It matches other first-party apps, but it is a departure from what Google Search has looked like on mobile for the past several years.
Expand Expanding Close
With the Pixel 2, the Pixel Launcher was revamped to place the search field at the bottom of your screen. Four years later, the Google app looks to be readying something similar with a bottom Search bar redesign.
Expand Expanding Close
Assistant Snapshot carries forward the legacy of Google Now, though its prominence is diminished compared to the previous feed. Its standing might be further de-prioritized following a pair of worrisome changes to Snapshot in the Google app and Assistant.
Expand Expanding Close
While the latest Google app beta introduced some nice updates to the Weather widgets, it also hampered At a Glance in the Pixel Launcher. Namely, it launches the original Google Weather experience instead of the redesign.
Expand Expanding Close
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.
Expand Expanding Close
In a very welcome change from what we previously expected, the Google Weather Material You widgets are now live on existing Pixel phones with the latest Google app beta.
Expand Expanding Close
The Google app recently lost its “More” tab for a unified panel when opening the account switcher. That new settings menu can now be accessed in the Google Discover feed to the left of the Pixel Launcher.
Expand Expanding Close
While Discover and Assistant Snapshot have gone through a handful of visual revamps in recent years, the rest of the Google app has remained the same. Google is now testing a settings redesign on Android that removes the “More” tab.
Expand Expanding Close
Following the big update in August, Google Podcasts for Android is getting a straightforward Material You redesign, though it’s not yet widely rolled out.
Expand Expanding Close
Google has been working on an in-app browser for Search on Android for quite sometime now. After being widely rolled out to the beta channel for the past few months, it has disappeared and reverted to Chrome Custom Tabs.
Expand Expanding Close
After redesigning the Weather app, Google’s next step is introducing Android 12 homescreen widgets. We enabled the first one last week, and the second Google widget coming is straight from the Pixel 6’s Material You advertising.
Expand Expanding Close
Google is continuing to add more settings to the Search app on Android with a new preference to control “Personal results.”
Expand Expanding Close
After initial testing in May, Google today has widely rolled out a redesign of Android’s default Weather app. Part of Google Search, the experience was overdue for a modernization.
Expand Expanding Close
The latest version of Google Search’s integrated bookmarking feature is called “Collections.” It was last updated in early 2020, and a redesign of Collections today makes the Google app tab much more useful.
Expand Expanding Close
Google recently redesigned Lens to prioritize screenshot analysis over live capture. Google Lens is now seeing a Material You flourish and even more prominent placement on Android.
Expand Expanding Close
SafeSearch, which “filter[s] out explicit content in Google’s search results,” has been around for so long that it has entered the cultural lexicon. The Google Search app on Android is now making it easier to access with a new “Hide explicit results” settings page.
Expand Expanding Close
Following the latest update, the Google app, Podcasts, and Lens are repeatedly crashing, while Assistant is also unavailable. Users across Google Pixel, Samsung, and Motorola phones are affected.
Expand Expanding Close
One of the key aspects of the Pixel Launcher experience is “At A Glance,” which has seen a handful of weather-related tweaks in recent months. Google is now planning to overhaul the capability into “Live Space” and better integrate it on with Assistant on Pixel phones running Android 12.
Expand Expanding Close