The recently revamped Google News app displays a lot of rich content including high-resolution images and videos. However, you might not always have enough data for those features to work well. That's why Google is rolling out several new data-saving features to the app. Not only will Google News go easier on your mobile data, but the features also activate automatically when needed.
According to Google, four improvements are coming to the Google News app. Here's the full list.
- When applicable, videos in the app will open in YouTube Go, ensuring that it’s delivered in a lightweight yet clear format. Videos won’t auto-play, saving precious data.
- Newscasts (previews of a story) will adapt to become more text-focused, saving you data.
- Images are compressed and can be fully loaded with just a tap. Videos and gifs will also not auto-play. Plus, less data will be cached and saved on your device.
- Many articles can be saved for consuming in offline mode, easily downloaded over Wi-Fi for reading later.
You don't need to do anything to activate these features, and they're not limited to Android Go despite the integration with YouTube Go. If you're on a network with limited bandwidth, these features might be active whenever you're away from WiFi. If you usually have a speedy LTE connection, the data-saving features could still flip on if you enter an area with poor signal like a subway.
Google says the data-saving features of Google News will roll out over the coming weeks to users across the world. If there's an app update required, we'll post the APK as soon as we've got it.
Source: Google Blog