Category: App Update

Last week a small update hit the Google Play Music app but on the surface there wasn’t much new.  However, within the settings of Google Music you will now see the option for a Sleep Timer.  Essentially it acts like a countdown timer and when it expires, it pauses your music.  The idea, as the name suggest, is to play some music to help you go to sleep then shut down so you aren’t playing music all night or running down your battery if your phone isn’t charging.  This new feature is in version 6.13.3321 for those keeping score at home and you likely got the update last week if you have the app installed.

Google has rolled out a small behind-the-scenes update to Google Maps that acknowledges the phenomenon that is Pokemon.  Using the timeline feature in the app, you can now indicate when an activity you were doing was catching Pokemon, just like you can when you are walking, running or doing other activities.  The change doesn’t require an update of your Maps app (assuming you have the latest build from the Google Play Store) and you can now edit activities in your timeline as time spent trying to catch them all.  While not necessarily super useful, it is fun, especially for those who are into the game (and there are a lot of you into the game!)

Google Opinion Rewards, the app that pays you Google Play Store credit for your opinion, has been updated and expanded.  Now Android users in Denmark, Norway and Sweden can take part in the program just by downloading the app and answering opinion questions as they are sent to you.  For those outside of these new countries, there is an app update available which has some stability fixes and other under-the-hood improvements that you’ll want to get.

If you aren’t familiar with the program, Google Opinion Rewards sends a survey once a week or so (sometimes more, sometimes less) that asks your opinion on anything from branding to places you visited to products and services.  Answering the survey’s will give you credit, up to $1, in the Play Store which you can spend later.  Most surveys are just a few questions so they are quick and easy to complete.

Microsoft has rolled out a nice update to their Android lock screen app, Next Lock Screen.  The update brings full integration of the company’s Bing search engine (which has had a big resurgence as of late) into the app so you can do search while your phone is still locked. The updated build is version 3.7.1 for those keeping score at home and if you have the app installed, the OTA update for you should be coming over the next day or two.  Once you have it, you will be able to tap on the Bing logo on the lock screen and do a search without having to unlock your phone.  It is a handy feature if you are searching while on-the-go.

A small but important update has rolled out on Google Photos online.  The update now has burst photos that you have taken from your phone or tablet and have sync’d to the cloud rendered as a group of photos and not individual photos.  The change follows an update to the Google Photos Android and iOS apps a few weeks back where the same functionality was introduced.  Now you will get the same viewing experience across the web and your devices of burst photos.

Microsoft has rolled out a nice update to the Microsoft Office suite of apps for Android.  Excel, PowerPoint and Word for Android have all been updated to build 16.0.7301.1013 for those keeping score at home and bring with it some improvements around file sharing and collaboration.  In fact, in the release notes for each of the apps, Microsoft points out that collaboration is now “front and center” for each of the apps.  So what does that mean?  It means that you can now easily and quickly find documents that have been shared with you in the new “Shared with me” section of the menu.  Here you can see files others have shared with you from their PC, Mac, iOS device or Office online when they used the “invite people” option on a document.  It is a faster way of finding those files without having to search through the app to find that document. This collaboration also means that you can quickly share a document and have the ability to see who is working on it in the Android apps.