Category: App Update

Google Play Music for Android has seen a minor update today that brings some improvements around searching for YouTube videos in the app.  The updated build is version 6.4.21 for those keeping score at home and if you have the app installed on your phone or tablet, you should see the update come to you via an OTA in the coming days.  There isn’t much to report on as far as new features go, just the improvements around finding videos of your favorite bands or artists within the app.

If you navigate with Google Maps today, you may notice a small but handy change that has come to the app:  Navigation bubbles.  Now when you are in navigation mode, you will see a small bubble with street names of where your next turn is as you go to your destination.  It is a visual cue to back up the audio cue you receive as you navigate and is particularly handy if you don’t use the audio turn-by-turn navigation.  The nice thing is that this new feature is already built into the most current version of Google Maps so no new app update is required.  This all happened on the backend at Google.

Last week the Chrome browser for Windows, Mac and Linux was update to Build 49 and as expect, the update is now hitting the browser for Android devices.  The new build is 49.0.2623.91 for those keeping score at home and it is rolling out to the Google Play Store today.  You should expect it to hit your device via an OTA update any time over the course of the next few days.

Google Play Newsstand for Android has been updated today and while it is a small upgrade, it is an important one.  The app now supports Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, which will give users amazingly fast page loads within the app.  AMP, for those who aren’t familiar, is a new code structure that Google has introduced that allows quick loading of pages from sites that are AMP enabled.

Google has begun rolling out a significant update to Google Play Services for Android that has a significant number of fixes and improvements for users.  The updated build is version 8.7.03 for those keeping score at home and should be hitting your compatible device in the next few days.  So what exactly is Google Play Services?  Think of it as the glue that binds your phone to Google Play so you can authenticate and update apps and services on your phone.  It’s not sexy but it is important and when it doesn’t play nice in the sandbox, it can make things a bit challenging.

For you Android users of Google Photos, there is a new update rolling out to the Google Play Store that brings a lot of nice UI tweaks.  The update you are looking for is version 1.15 for those keeping score at home and it should be coming to you via an OTA update (if you have it installed) over the course of the next day or two.  Once you get the update, you are going to see some of the changes immediately.  First, on the Assistant page, you will see a new Create New scroll bar at the top.  This puts things like creating an Album, Collage, Animation or Movie a tap away.  In previous builds these were off of the menu and a few taps away.