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Why is switching accounts in Chrome such a hassle on mobile?
Most Google apps let you swipe to switch accounts, but not Chrome
Life must be easy if you have just one Google account. It must be nice to store all of your data and digital ephemera to a single Chrome profile. The sad truth, however, is that many of us juggle several accounts. We have our personal account and often another for work. There's also the family account, that Gmail account for junk mail, and maybe another left over from your days in college.
How to find your Google account settings in the Google app for Android
Things have changed, and they're now in a more sensible location
Google has been in the process of redesigning its Android apps for a while now. Specifically, it's been moving individual app settings into the account switcher in the top right corner of most of its applications. The Google search app is among the last outliers with its settings living in a More bottom tab in the bottom right corner. But now, a Reddit post suggests that this layout might not be there for long.
Google Analytics for Android gets new Material theme, gesture account switcher, and more with version 4.0 (APK Download)
No dark theme yet, though
Most of Google's mobile applications have switched over to the company's updated Material Theme, but there are still a few holdouts. One of them was the Google Analytics app, which hasn't had a significant design update since 2016, but that has finally changed with version 4.0.
A handful of minor tweaks to G Suite's Android apps and Google Docs for the web have landed in recent days. None are game-changing improvements, but you can look forward to seeing a new document status indicator the next time you fire up Google Docs in your browser, and the Sheets, Docs, and Slides Android apps have picked up search bars and account switchers that match the redesigned look other Google apps have been getting recently.
By now, you're probably familiar with the new account switcher that many Google apps have been picking up, giving you a nice round icon in the corner for your account and a single downward swipe to quickly switch between them. Well, the change has been rolling out to Google's Play Movies & TV app in recent days.
Google Photos tests its latest interface tweaks
Tests ranging from three to five tabs in the in-app navigation bar, plus a new Library tab
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Google Photos hasn't seen any substantial interface changes since its inception as a standalone app, minus the addition of the bottom bar in 2016. Bigger changes are headed our way, though, following the introduction of the new account picker on the heels. They come in the form of a redesigned UI that does away with the always accessible search bar up top and the hamburger menu. However, it also makes the bottom bar more intuitive and gives us long-awaited features.
It's been almost seven months since Google announced at I/O that it was rolling out a new account switcher to its apps, which lets you quickly and easily manage all your Google settings. The design, which relies on your avatar showing up in the top right of the search bar, has already rolled out to plenty of apps. Among the most important holdouts are the Play Store and Google Photos, but some users have started seeing it in the former.
Google Podcasts is still lagging behind competing podcast players, but at least the developers are working on bringing the app on par with Google's other products. It has received the new account switcher and swipe gesture that's been showing up across the company's Android applications.
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Google is continuing to update its apps with the new account picker it announced at I/O. After spotting it (and the accompanying switch gesture in various apps) we noticed it was showing up for some users in the Play Store and is now rolling out in Google Photos too. The app is also getting a new "Skipped suggestions" section in settings for getting back automated creations you may have mistakenly dismissed.
Every piece of software that Google makes is being reworked to get design uniformity across the board under the new material guidelines. Then why should the poor account switcher be left behind? The Google account switcher on the web is undergoing a redesign after its mobile counterpart got switching gestures and direct access to account settings.
A few weeks ago, several Google apps added a nifty gesture that allows you to quickly switch between your accounts. It started with Maps, then Drive, Contacts, and Gmail followed suit. Now two other apps are bringing the same change: Keep and the Google app.
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- This release also contains the first signs of dark mode in Gmail. Both the app's widget and the splash screen have a dark variation to suit the system-wide theme on Android Q (though you may need to force close and clear cache before seeing them). And in case you're wondering, it's the same dark grey blue as Google Pay (#202124). Thanks Rudresh and Henny Roggy!
Miracles do happen, folks. Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen Google Maps, then Drive and Contacts add that nifty account switching gesture, and all we've wanted was for it to make its way to Gmail. That's where most of us often move between inboxes and accounts, many times a day. However, at the pace the Gmail team likes to implement change (cf. dark mode), we were thinking it might take months for the feature to trickle down to the app. But lo-and-behold, it's now there.
Gestures are one of the smoothest interactions on a smartphone. Though often hidden and only discoverable inadvertently or by trial-and-error, they can save you time once you know how to use them. One of my favorite gestures so far has been the swipe to switch tabs in Chrome, but it may now be dethroned by a new swipe to switch accounts in Google Maps. Though I'll seldom use it in Maps, I'm really crossing fingers that it comes to Gmail soon.
Last week at I/O, Google emphasized a new account picker that would simplify access all of your Google settings from many apps. Gmail, Contacts, Keep, Photos, Search, Maps, have already gotten that new switcher (even if for some it's in the app's top search bar, while in others it's in the side menu), and now it's YouTube's turn. The app has gotten a small update to its Account page that brings this functionality.