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Google is gearing up for the weekend with another beta update to its self-named app. The latest version brings some very minor visual tweaks, but as usual, it's the teardown where the real activity can be found. The latest update expands a bit on the previously seen Your People screen and Google Assistant for Households by adding personal details to contacts. There will also be an option to enable or disable Assistant on the Pixel Buds while your phone's lockscreen is active. And finally, something called Dragon Glass is in the works.
Google has been progressively enhancing its speech-related technologies for years, starting in the early days with mostly straightforward commands before aiming much higher with natural language processing and conversational back-and-forth interactions. At I/O 2018, a demonstration included the next stage of this evolution, which has been dubbed Continued Conversation. A beta update to the Google app began rolling out last night, and it's preparing to unveil this new feature.
Find My Device doesn't get a lot of updates these days, and it probably doesn't need much more than it already does. However, the latest update does add a potentially valuable new feature that could make it easier to report your lost or stolen phone. You can now get the IMEI number for the device without digging up the original box or paperwork, and without having to make a point of recording the number elsewhere.
There's not a lot to Google's Opinion Rewards app, but the team behind it spent most of last year expanding its footprint to many new countries. Just last month, it was finally updated to also allow users to make changes to account information they had submitted during the sign-up process, which cleared up some oversights like the possibility of moving to another area. In today's update, Opinion Rewards is closing another gap by adding the ability to delete user accounts.
Every week, I examine somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred app updates while looking for changes. The most interesting things turn into APK Teardowns or Download posts. Many of the remaining updates are unremarkable, amounting to a few bug fixes, routine updates to libraries, or even just pixel-level adjustments to layouts and images. However, there are usually a few updates that land somewhere in between. I don't want to spam readers with dozens of short posts, but I hate to ignore things that people might want to know about, so I'm going to wrap up the leftovers for a little weekend reading and call it Update Notes.
We've been anticipating the official launch of screen sharing in Duo for about many months, ever since a teardown in mid-October revealed it to be in development. We've even seen basically what it looks like, albeit just as a sample. Now with the rollout of v34, we can all begin sharing our screens with friends, or more likely, help our parents fix something that's not working on their phones. Well, we could try to do that, except screen sharing is kinda totally broken.
It doesn't matter that it's Friday night, Google is still readily rolling out updates to its apps. The latest is a beta release for the Google app, bringing us up to v8.4. Changes are pretty sparse on this one, but there are a few cosmetic tweaks, plus we're getting some more details on the nature of the Read Later feature discussed in the previous teardown.
Google told us about a great many things at I/O that are coming to many different products across the Google family, but one big service wasn't mentioned: Google+. We've been waiting for a while to see some changes in the company's only true social network, and now there's actually something to look forward to. A teardown of the APK points to a significant enhancement to the text formatting features already available to users.
The infamous Casting notification became a very controversial feature for many. It looked like a good idea when it first appeared, but quickly earned much hate as the notifications proved to be spammy in regular use. Google eventually rolled out an option to turn off notifications. If you haven't shunned these notifications, or you're willing to turn them back on, you can look forward to a new twist that makes it possible to tap on the notification to immediately open up an app as a remote control.
Welcome a fresh update of Google Maps to the world. Version 9.78 began rolling out to the beta channel last night, and with it come a few visual tweaks and a cool new feature for custom lists that shows the places you've visited. Turning to the teardown, it looks like Google will be giving contributors a little more visibility and control over their public profiles. Drivers in São Paulo, Brazil will also be getting a useful tool for navigating through or around the rodízio.
Google began rolling out a more-beta-than-usual update to its search app a couple days ago. Despite following the rush of I/O announcements, it doesn't look like this version brings any new features to users. However, like almost every update, it comes with an assortment of clues about upcoming changes.
While new information keeps rolling out of Google I/O, some of the recently announced things are creeping out in various forms. After the keynote, we've been expecting some enhancements to Google Photos, and the latest update contains new text that makes it look pretty likely that we'll be getting them soon. There's also a subtle clue that may suggest we'll soon get to lock up some of our photos or albums and access them with a fingerprint.
Google I/O is in full swing, and that means app updates are going to be rolling out in force. I'm sitting here in the press box before the keynote, but that won't stop the teardowns from happening. An update to the Android Messages app landed yesterday, bringing with it newly added capabilities to show link previews. Coming in from the teardown, we've got signs of a new dark mode and some helpful controls for the upcoming Messages for Web feature.
Google has been rolling out updates to its flagship app at a record pace, with significant updates landing only a few days apart. The latest may be a sign that the developers are nearly done, as the additions appear to be slowing down. In this update, we can see small visual tweaks, but nothing else too major. As usual, it's in the teardown where the changes are racking up, including signs that users will get to choose their own services for lists and notes taken by Assistant, an ability to trim the silence from podcasts, and a small follow-up regarding Google Doodles.
As we get REALLY close to Google I/O, we're getting a rollout of the latest Google Home app. Like everything lately, we're not seeing much in the way of UI changes, though support for Ice Cream Sandwich is going away. However, there are some big things to see in a teardown. We've got signs of a remote control feature that works with various home automation features, lots of stuff happening with captions, and two new tabs for navigation.
The Translate app doesn't see a lot of updates, but when they come out, there's usually something interesting to discuss. In the latest version, rolling out today, there's not much to look at on the screen, but there are a few things in the teardown to look through. Actually, there was an unusually large amount of text added to the APK, but almost all of it is a repeat or slightly varied version of existing text, which likely means a new look is probably also in the works.
Google Contacts v2.7 is rolling out, but you're not likely to see anything different in the UI. This update likely fixes some bugs and lines up a few new features. A teardown points to a brand new widget that will include a list of contacts. We'll also be able to look forward to a clever tool that will suggest names for contacts based on sources like Google Maps and your corporate directory if they're available.
A new version of Google Maps landed late last night and brought with it an assortment of visual tweaks. You'll find an all new and improved look for your saved lists, plus some interesting tweaks to other small spots around the interface. There is also a pretty clear hint that we'll be able to send requests for other people to turn on location sharing so they don't have to take the initiative to share with us. There are a couple of smaller teardown topics as well.
Every week, I examine somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred app updates while looking for changes. The most interesting things turn into APK Teardowns or Download posts. Many of the remaining updates are unremarkable, amounting to a few bug fixes, routine updates to libraries, or even just pixel-level adjustments to layouts and images. However, there are usually a few updates that land somewhere in between. I don't want to spam readers with dozens of short posts, but I hate to ignore things that people might want to know about, so I'm going to wrap up the leftovers for a little weekend reading and call it Update Notes.
YouTube may officially hold the crown for different service names, as long as you count the ones that appeared and never seem to launch. When the YouTube Red name first turned up, everybody was rightfully skeptical, but it turned out to be the ultimate replacement for the "Music Key" subscription. In just the last few months, we've seen the names Plus, Premiere, and Remix pop up, but none have yet to evolve into a final name. Yet another name from the thesaurus is joining the list, but this time, it's probably serious. Say hello to YouTube Premium.