The Google+ app has long had a number of annoying UI quirks, but a leaked redesign last month gave us hope big changes were on the horizon. Today is the day we finally get out hands on that new UI. Google+ head honcho Dave Besbris has kindly provided a complete changelog for the update, and it's a big one.
What's New
We don't know what secrets might be hiding inside yet, but here's all the new stuff you'll see. Anything in italics is what we've noticed ourselves.
- Auto Awesome Stories now combine your photos, videos and the places you visit into beautiful travelogues. You can read more at googleblog.blogspot.com.
- Auto Awesome Movies are now available on Android, iOS and the web, so lots more people will receive highlight reels of their photos and videos. Here’s one example: http://goo.gl/9ljcdj.
- You can now create animated GIFs and photobooth-style images on demand. Just tap the new plus button in Photos, and select either Motion or Mix.
- Really big photo libraries are now supported on Android, so you can access your many thousands of photos quickly and easily.
- You can now browse your entire photo library, as well as your highlights, by date. Just drag the new scroll bar to move forwards or backwards in time.
- Profiles now display total content views on both Android and the web. (You can choose to show or hide this number via settings.)
- A new navigation menu makes it easier to switch between your favorite circles and communities, as well as other places in the app.
- It’s a lot easier to share content from your phone or tablet. To give it a try, just tap the new pencil icon at the bottom right of the stream.
- The app menu now slides away as you move down the stream, letting posts fill the entire screen.
- Links for Play Store Betas are visible in the app, they were missing in the old version for some reason.
- Live camera preview tile in new post screen
- Search button on the main screen now instead of in navigation menu
- Directions to people in Location screen.
- New system-themed toast notifications of new posts
- Albums have buttons to comment or plus the post
- Section for recent communities in drop down menu
It certainly looks like that red redesign is about to roll out. Besbris says the update will start appearing today.
Albums – Left: old, Right: new
Play Store Betas – Left: old, Right: new
APK Download
The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
File Name: com.google.android.apps.plus_ 4.4.0.67576161.apk
MD5: db8f5de61690033d19ff41d05d89933e
Version: 4.4 (Android 4.4+)
File Name: com.google.android.apps.plus-4.4.0.67576161_API11.apk
MD5: 2f66a180ab1005bfe5f487b24bddb574
Version: 4.4 (Android 3.0+)
Bonus: APK for x86 Android 3.0+ devices only
[+Dave Besbris, Thanks, +Anthony C. Maki, +Ananya Gupta, +Leo Nidas, and +Luke Arran]