Category: App Update

It has literally been a year since it was announced but Visa Checkout integration into Android Pay is finally starting to roll out to users.  Back in October 2016, Google and Visa announced that Visa Checkout and Masterpass would be coming to the tap-to-pay app for purchases online.  At the time, it was indicated that the integration would happen in early 2017 but it has taken until October of this year to happen.

Better late than never I suppose.

With the integration, Android Pay users can pay on hundreds of thousands of new sites where Visa Checkout or Masterpass are accepted using their preferred device authentication method – like fingerprint recognition. No longer will users have to remember multiple usernames and passwords in order to checkout, saving them time and hassle.

Google Text-to-speech, the underlying engine for converting on screen text to speech has been updated.  Version 3.13.3 is now rolling out and with it comes support for Filipino and Greek languages.

Chances are that the majority of readers have never leveraged the TTS engine but it is a critical application for those with visual impairments who need the text on their device display’s read aloud to them.  Setting up of the engine is done in Settings>Accessibility and powers Google’s TalkBack feature built into Android.

Microsoft OneNote for Android has a new update rolling out that finally brings support for setting passwords on note sections.  The updated build is version 16.0.8625.2040 for those keeping score at home and with it comes the ability to set a password on a section of notes and to open that section using your phone’s fingerprint scanner (or password if you phone doesn’t have one).

Password protection of sections has been in OneNote for a while and while you could open up a section on your Android device, you could not set the password in the app itself.  You had to use the OneNote desktop app in order to set passwords.  No more.  Now you can long press a note section in the app on your device and you will see a new Protect Section option on the menu.  Tap it, set the password for the section and you are good-to-go.

The popular keyboard app SwiftKey has a new update rolling out in the Play Store today.  The update, version 6.6.9.32 for those keeping score at home, is primarily a performance and bug fix release but there are a couple of new features of note too.

First, the app now supports signing in and synchronizing of your learned words and typing patterns with your Microsoft account.  Support for Google and email sign-ins have been support for some time now but not for those who prefer to use their Microsoft account.  Why is this a big deal?  Because Microsoft owns SwiftKey.  They bought the company in February 2016 so it seems odd that it took this long to bring support for their own accounts to their own apps.

The Google Daydream app has a new update rolling out in the Play Store that brings the promised support of Chromecast to the app.  The update, version 1.10.170912063 for those keeping score at home, now allows you to cast whatever you are doing or viewing on your Daydream headset so others can join in on the fun.

The ability to cast from Daydream was something that Google discussed back in May at Google I/O and was expected with the next major update of the app, version 2.0, but it appears that made it in a little earlier.

The Google Play Movies & TV app has a minor update rolling out to the Play Store that is bringing a few user experience changes.  The update, version 3.28 for those keeping score at home, has several cosmetic adjustments but nothing that is overly obvious at first glance.  But there are some detail changes that are important.

First, movie trailers can now be access by the cover art for that movie.  It use to be that there was a dedicated section within the movie’s page for trailers.  Now you will see a small banner in the cover art, “Trailer” that will allow you to watch it.  This is a bit more intuitive instead of having to scroll down to find the trailer.