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Proton Mail now has one more advantage over Gmail on desktop
he company has launched desktop apps and more than 50 other improvements for Proton Mail
When choosing an email provider, privacy and convenience ought to be the two most important things in the modern digital age. While support for passkeys and encryption covers the former front, convenience is a mix of platform-agnostic support, and advantages of the ecosystem of apps built around it. Gmail is a fine example, offering Drive cloud storage, convenient access from virtually any device, and integrated support for a massive suite of Workspace apps. Rival Swiss privacy brand Proton is also hard at work, making its email service more accessible with a new desktop app for Windows and Mac.
Google Calendar is early for its Material You appointment
Its redesign is now available ahead of schedule
At this point, anyone running Android 12's beta on their phone has been flooded with Material You. As we're approaching a stable launch for Google's next major OS update, all of its apps are getting splashes of color, alongside some more extensive redesigns for certain services. Calendar's update was scheduled to arrive on Monday, but as with any good planner, it's arrived early to the party.
Google Calendar's latest update recognizes you aren't going back to the office anytime soon
Keep your co-workers informed of when you're working from home
While some employees have been trekking back into the office for months now, others are still working remotely (and some of us never had offices in the first place). Hybrid work schedules are also becoming a popular option, with workers splitting their time between home and work. To help meet the needs of those who are constantly shuffling in and out of the office, Google Calendar is getting a new way to tell your colleagues when and where you'll be working.
Google Calendar may be coming to a Chrome OS taskbar near you
Check the date and your upcoming appointments all in one place
Google Calendar might be a daily visit for many of us, but if you're rocking a Chromebook, there's no way to access it outside of the web or a dedicated app. Chrome OS still lacks a calendar built into its system tray, but that might be about to change. After evidence showed up earlier this year that a simple widget was in the works, a new experiment is hinting that your Chromebook could eventually feature full Google Calendar integration.
You can now hide holidays that won't give you time off in Google Calendar
New options for customizing how public events are displayed
Google Calendar is excellent at managing your personal meetings and appointments, but by default, it also keeps track of the holidays in your region. In addition to public holidays, Google also shares other occasions, so you don't have to search "Father's Day 2021" every few days until you finally memorize the date (it's June 20th). A new toggle for holidays is finally coming to Calendar, so you can declutter your view without disabling the feature altogether.
Google Workspace users are finally getting the handy Maps shortcut in Calendar
Don't worry, you can get rid of it if you don't want it
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About two years ago, Google added sidebars to its web apps, enhancing its services with miniature versions of Calendar, Tasks, or Keep, and you can even integrate third-party applets. For the first time in ages, a web app has now received a new standard integration — you can now access an almost full-blown version of Maps right inside Google Calendar.
Google Calendar finally supports snoozing desktop notifications
Available for Workspace users starting today
None of us want to miss a meeting, but if a notification about an upcoming one appears too early, it can be easy to lose track of time. Google's aiming to fix that with its latest update to Calendar, finally adding the option to snooze notifications right from desktop for all Workspace accounts.
For a lot of us, it's only after working full time from home that we've realized how messy balancing work and personal commitments can get — and the pandemic ensured we all got a taste of it. Google now wants to make it easier to share your disordered WFH schedule with your teammates as Calendar entries so that they know when is —and isn't— the right time to ping you.
Google Messages can suggest adding calendar events while you chat (APK Download)
Plus other smart actions too
Contextual suggestions in Google Messages aren't new. The app can already offer up stickers, Assistant recommendations, smart replies, and some actions while you're talking to your contacts, and it's that latter ability that seems to be expanding. Among the new actions, Messages can now propose adding a calendar event when you bring up a specific time and date during a chat.
Google Docs now warns you when mentioning a user who's out of office
You'll know not to expect an immediate answer from them
Google Docs has made it easy for several people to collaborate on the same document. Since it's integrated with other G Suite products, the online productivity solution also lets users mention their co-workers or reply to their comments, allowing them to collaborate seamlessly. However, your colleague may be out of the office when you need something from them, which is why Docs will now let you know they're probably not going to reply to your comment as fast as you might expect them to.
Google Calendar adds offline support for the web
Chrome users will be able to take advantage of this very soon
Unreliable Internet connections are all too common. If you've ever tried to check your Google Calendar while your Wi-Fi was down, only to find that nothing would load, you're in luck — Google Calendar now has offline support for Chrome.
Google Calendar finally moved its search button to the top bar
It previously lived in the hamburger menu
Searching your events in Google Calendar can be a tedious experience, and many people might not even remember that's an option in the Android app at all. That's likely because the search button is hidden in the hamburger menu below the different view options. It looks like Google has recognized that this position doesn't make a lot of sense, as the company is rolling out a small UI tweak that moves the search button to the top app bar.
Zoom reportedly working on building its own email and calendar apps
Its leadership in videoconferencing would help it compete with G Suite and Office 365
Zoom has become one of the most popular conferencing platforms, both for private and business use. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only helped fuel the app's fame, making it pass more than 500,000,000 downloads on the Play Store.
ProtonCalendar is now available on Android (APK Download)
An encrypted alternative to Google Calendar
ProtonMail is well known for its encrypted email service that is built around protecting online privacy. Around this time last year, the company expanded its portfolio to offer a calendar service that boasted of the same end-to-end encryption promise. ProtonCalendar, which was previously only accessible via the web, is now available on Android.
Workspaces with Google Chat have had to ride along as this fairly new service slowly got its bearings with basic features and integrations. We've come to another couple of waypoints here: users will be able to pin Chat threads to the top of their Gmail view and schedule Google Calendar events right from the app.
Google officially rolls out Tasks integration in Calendar mobile apps
You'll be able to see Gooogle Tasks items alongside calendar events
Google Tasks might not be as feature-rich as some other to-do list applications, but it's still a great option for a simple task tracker. Tasks with specific dates already appear in the desktop version of Google Calendar, but only now is that feature officially coming to mobile.
Android Auto is finally bringing back access to calendar appointments
No more reaching for a phone to figure out where you need to go
When you're running late to an appointment, or even just driving around town with several stops planned, the last thing you should do is reach for your phone to look up an address. When Android Auto was announced, this seemed to be the type of problem Google was trying to solve. An imperfect solution existed through Google Assistant, but it was removed without a good alternative to replace it. But things are looking up because Google is launching a calendar on Android Auto that gives you quick and easy access to your itinerary.
Google Calendar web gets improved event creation and printout enhancements
Small improvements making a good web app even better
Even though many Google desktop web apps are already pretty capable and easy to use, there are always things that can be improved, and as such, Calendar on the web has received an update. It's now possible to add more details in the pop-up event creation dialog, and you can finally create fully colored printouts, in case you still like to see your agenda in a physical form.
Google adds more accurate visualizations for shorter meetings in Calendar
It's much more visually cramped, too
Keeping track of everything going on these days can get hectic. Luckily, there are apps like Google Calendar that help to manage busy schedules. Google is now updating the way shorter events are displayed on the calendar to make them more accurately reflect the correct length.
Xiaomi publishes its Calendar app on the Play Store (APK Download)
All apps should be updated this way. All of them.
One of my favorite things about how Android handles apps is the streamlined process of updating them through the Play Store. Rather than waiting for a full system update just to fix a small bug in an app, phone-makers can push fixes through the Play Store as soon as the software is ready. Following its file browser, launcher, and many other apps, Xiaomi's Calendar is now available on the Store as well.