The biggest moment for Google Messages in 2024 was when the iPhone gained RCS support with iOS 18 in September. In terms of new features, there were some highlights but the biggest one — a redesign of the text field — was stuck in limbo. There are quite a few big additions in the pipeline. 

Now in its third year, the Pixel Watch experience remains quite consistent in 2024. Compared to Pixel phones, it’s harder to distinguish each generation’s hardware, while the software has changed even less.  

After rolling out a round of design updates and new features to the mobile app, YouTube is testing a “Play something” FAB.

Season 2 of Squid Game was released on December 26 — in a choice, thematic decision — and Google Search is marking the occasion with an easter egg. 

In 2024, Made by Google rolled out big updates with new features to Pixel phones on six occasions. The year saw everything from routine operating system updates to entirely new apps and even a rebrand. 

Getting a new phone — be it your first or the routine upgrade — can be overwhelming given the variety of features there are to explore. We have a few tips on how to set up and get the most out of your new Google Pixel.

Customization is one of the best aspects of a smartwatch compared to its mechanical counterparts. Google’s wearable is no exception, and here are some tips on getting started with the Pixel Watch 3.

In 2024, YouTube Music switched to quarterly “New Features Highlights,” but skipped the Q3 edition. Google is now back with a cumulative list to summarize the second half of the year in launches.

The US Google Store is launching a Pixel Referral Rewards program: “Earn $50 in Google Store credit for each friend who buys a Pixel and they’ll get 10% off a Pixel phone.” 

Google Photos is simplifying the bottom bar to three tabs, and another big design change tests a very prominent row of shortcuts.

In addition to other remedies, the Justice Department in November shared that it wants Google to sell Chrome. Google today shared its own remedies proposal. 

Earlier this month, Google started testing Gemini in Google Assistant on the Nest Mini and Audio, and here are the new voices. 

Android XR will support several input methods, with Google even building a “Gesture navigation” system that uses the familiar 3-button layout.

Welcome to episode 35 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, we talk about Gemini 2.0 and the 2 Android beta/preview releases.

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For the Pixel 9 series, Google introduced a “Swirling petals” collection, and a subset of those wallpapers are now available for the Pixel Tablet.

A nice quality-of-life improvement to Google Photos for Android (and the web) shows “Albums” status in the Info panel.

After rolling out a new PDF viewer, Files by Google has detailed a trio of new features, including integration with Gemini’s upcoming “Ask about this PDF” functionality.

Over the past few weeks, Google Fiber — or “GFiber” — introduced new plans (Core 1 Gig, Home 3 Gig, and Edge 8 Gig) with updated branding and features in two cities. 

Google Keep users this week are being prompted to “reload” their notes, while there’s also a small design tweak on Android that curves corners.

After hitting the Google app beta channel on Monday, access to 2.0 Flash Experimental in the Gemini app on Android is now rolling out to stable users.