Google is preparing a Material Design 3 refresh known as “Expressive” and as we edge closer to release, we are starting to see early versions of the design leak in a bunch of apps. We’ve seen it used in the Android settings app, and more recently in Google account settings. Now, Google is preparing such a refresh for its keyboard app too.

Thanks to a source inside Google, Android Authority was able to explore a mature version of the in-development Gboard feature, and we’ve seen evidence of a design change that some users might not like.

Whether necessary or not, Google loves to tweak the UI of its products. For example, YouTube recently started testing out a new UI for the media player. The company’s latest target, however, is Google Messages, which should see a few handy improvements.

When Google released the fourth beta of Android 16 this month, many users were disappointed by the lack of major UI changes. As Beta 4 is the final beta, it’s likely the stable Android 16 release won’t look much different than last year’s release. However, that might not hold true for subsequent updates. Google recently confirmed it will unveil a new version of its Material Design theme at its upcoming developer conference, and we’ve already caught glimpses of these design changes in Android—including a notable increase in background blur effects. Ahead of I/O next month, here’s an early look at Google’s upcoming Android redesign.

Before we begin, a word of caution: What we’re about to show you are hidden design changes found in Android 16 Beta 4. None of these are enabled by default in Beta 4, and we don’t know for certain when Google will activate them. While it’s highly likely we won’t see this full redesign in the stable release of Android 16, parts or all of it could appear in a future quarterly update. We’ll hopefully get more clarity next month during The Android Show or Google I/O 2025, where the company plans to unveil its new, more “expressive” version of Material Design, dubbed Material 3 Expressive.

Gemini in Google Drive on the web can help you summarize files and folders, discuss topics based on information from files in your Drive, retrieve quick facts from documents, and even create images or new Google files and folders. However, you currently can’t use these Gemini integrations in the Google Drive app for Android. That’s set to change soon.

Google Contacts‘ Single Contact widget lets you add specific contacts to your home screen. It features shortcuts to help you quickly call or text the contact, and shows your recent messages with the contact. Google now seems to be integrating the latter into profile pages in the Contacts app, allowing you to view recent texts and calls with a contact on their profile.

One of the best uses for a smartphone camera is scanning documents, and Google lets you do this on Android via its various apps. Now, it looks like this functionality has received a useful, time-saving improvement.

Google has quietly introduced an improvement to the MLKit document scanner, which is used in apps like Google Drive, Files by Google, the Pixel Camera app, and a few other apps. Documents will now be automatically enhanced immediately after you’ve scanned them. You’ll also see a button in the top right corner after you’ve just scanned a document, allowing you to remove said enhancement. Check out the images below, showing the button and a before/after comparison.

If you own an Android flagship and a car, you’ve likely already heard of and used Android Auto. Android Auto is a neat way to leverage the smarts of your phone and pair it to the bigger and more conveniently positioned display on your car’s head unit, to get navigation and other functionality with very little distraction. However, Android Auto isn’t perfect, and one long-time complaint of users is the absence of any climate control settings, for which users often have to switch back to their car head unit’s OS. Google has been spotted working on bringing climate control settings to Android Auto, and today, we have a demo of it, showcasing Android Auto’s upcoming layout with integrated climate control settings.

Google already loved constantly reinventing its apps and services, always testing redesigns and tweaking interfaces in the hopes of figuring out what works best. Then Gemini got here, and it feels like this practice has just shifted into high gear, with Google coming out with new Gemini models almost as fast as it’s updating the app itself. Today we’re not checking out any one big change to Gemini on Android, but instead taking a peek under the hood at a number of smaller adjustments that appear to currently be in development.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Update, April 29, 2025 (03:02 AM ET): The Google app’s Activity tab is now widely rolling out to beta users without any additional steps. This is a good sign for the feature’s progress. We expect to see the Activity tab arrive for stable users soon, too.

Original article, November 7, 2024 (11:17 PM ET): Google is rolling out a new feature for the Google app that brings a new “Activity” tab at the bottom of the app. The new option allows users to easily access their search history from both Chrome and the Google app itself. The “Activity” tab, which is currently in the testing phase, will also serve as a central hub for managing saved items, replacing the existing “Saved” tab.

Google is preparing a new Material Design theme to give Android a more colorful look. We recently got an early look at the redesigned Settings page featuring this ‘expressive’ theme in Android 16 beta 4. Now, we have spotted the visual changes coming to the Google account management page.

Most Android flagships these days support eSIMs, which are pretty convenient compared to physical SIMs. However, if you use an eSIM and somehow end up with a broken phone, you’d be quite stuck getting back network access without the help of your carrier. Unlike a physical SIM, there is no easy option to move an eSIM from an old, broken phone onto a new one. Thankfully, it seems Google is working on a solution for Android phones, as Google One device backups could soon include SIMs.

Google is working on a new, more convenient method for adding credit and debit cards to Google Wallet. We recently conducted an APK teardown of the latest Google Play Services beta (version 25.16.33) and discovered that Google plans to introduce NFC-based card enrollment in Wallet alongside the existing card scanning option.

Google Pixel phones are beloved for many reasons, and their software is chief among them. Google offers numerous Pixel-exclusive capabilities, like AI-powered features that simplify phone calls and photography. However, Pixel phones also frustratingly lack some basic features that users migrating from other brands often expect. One notable omission is a double-tap gesture to turn off the screen, but Google might finally be adding this feature to Pixel devices.

Many of the best Android phones from brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus let you turn the screen off by double-tapping the lock screen, but Pixel phones don’t offer this. Double-tapping the lock screen on a Pixel simply does nothing, which is odd considering you can double-tap the screen to turn it on.

Google Translate is set to receive a new feature to help users practice a language. We recently spotted evidence of the in-development Practice feature in a teardown of version 9.7.102 of the app, but that’s not the only change Google is brewing for its translation app.

If you’re serious about security, then you probably already avoid inserting random USB sticks into your personal devices. It’s good practice to be cautious of unknown USB devices, especially since you don’t know what kinds of payloads they might contain. But if your Android device is lost or confiscated, then you can’t stop someone else from inserting a USB device. To protect against this, Google is working on a new, optional feature in Android 16 that disables USB access when your phone is locked.

It might sound like paranoia, but there are valid reasons why one might want to block USB devices when your Android phone is locked. If you’re a journalist or activist who is at risk of being targeted by hackers, you’ll want to take every precaution you can to prevent your phone’s contents from being extracted. USB peripherals like keyboards can be used to brute force the keyguard, while other devices can inject payloads that exploit vulnerabilities to unlock the device. This isn’t hypothetical — Amnesty International’s Security Lab recently documented a zero-day USB driver exploit that was used to break into the phone of a student activist in Serbia.

Google Translate is an excellent app, and frankly, one that I consider a game-changer. It has made communication across languages extremely easy and convenient, taking a big pain point out of international travel and more. However, Google Translate only helps with translating languages and not learning a new one, which is where apps like Duolingo come in with their gamified approach to learning a new language. Google has previously experimented with letting English users practice speaking through Google Search. We’ve now spotted the company working on a Practice feature for Translate that could help users polish their language proficiency with activities.

Multitasking on most Android phones can be challenging due to their limited screen sizes. However, manufacturers address this by offering a variety of multi-window features. For example, most Android devices have a split-screen mode that allows users to place two apps side-by-side, and a bubble feature that opens certain apps in floating windows. While both are useful for switching between two apps, their utility diminishes with three or more apps. To improve multitasking on Android phones, Google is working to enable any app to open in a bubble and to make those apps accessible from a new bubble bar.

Android 11 introduced the bubble feature to provide messaging apps a standardized way to open conversations in floating chat head windows, a feature popularized by Facebook Messenger. Since its introduction, however, only a few top messaging apps use the bubbles API. Theoretically, most Android apps should function well within a bubble, as it simply acts as a container for the app’s activity. Currently, though, the feature doesn’t allow this.

The Google Phone app, which is preloaded on several Android flagships, offers call recording in several regions globally, but not in the US (even though you can legally record calls in most states after adequate consent). Instead, users in the US have to use the Pixel 9’s Call Notes feature to record a phone call. However, Call Notes is only available per call, requiring users to consciously activate it whenever they want to record, transcribe, or summarize a phone call. Now, Google has been spotted working on automatic call recording within the Call Notes feature that would make life a lot easier, but we aren’t sure if the company ever plans to release it.

Taking photos has got to be one of the biggest things we use our smartphones for, so of course companies like Google are paying a lot of attention to their photography apps. Right now, those Google devs seem to be on a bit of a spree, and we’ve been spotting a ton of work on upcoming Google Photos features, from new rotation options to improved support for working with multiple pics at once. That party’s not stopping now, and we’ve also uncovered progress on what appears to be a change to how the app displays the faces it’s recognized.

Update, April 23, 2025 (1:49 PM ET): Well that didn’t take very long! Normally we spot Google developers working on the framework for new features long before they’re even remotely ready to go live, but other times Google flips the script on us. Mere hours after sharing news with you of Photos preparing this multi-photo download tool, we’re beginning to see it roll out publicly. Android Authority reader Jérôme lets us know in the comments that he’s seeing this on his Pixel 9, and we’ve also gotten it on one of our non-Pixel devices.

Original article, April 23, 2025 (7:41 AM ET): Google Photos is an excellent photo and video backup solution for Android flagships. Once you have it set up, you can just let the app do its thing in the background, uploading a copy of all of your clicked photos and videos to the cloud for easy access. However, a pain point that has plagued users for years has been the inability to bulk download multiple photos back to their Android device. It seems Google has finally listened to feedback, as we’ve spotted clues that indicate Google Photos could let users download multiple photos simultaneously to their device.

On the surface, the upcoming Android 16 release looks similar to the past several Android releases. That’s because the user interface changes Google is working on are still under development and aren’t ready to be shown to the public, including the redesigned media output switcher we spotted today.

While digging into the new Android 16 Beta 4 update that Google released last week, we discovered the company is testing a new design for the media output switcher. This is the panel that pops out when you tap the chip in the top right of any media playback notification. It was introduced with Android 11 in 2020, but its UI has stayed relatively the same, except for a slight update in Android 14 which added a “Speakers & Displays” heading.

When you tap on an image in your Google Photos library, the app will occasionally provide a suggestion for an action you may want to take. This usually comes in the form of a chip that pops up at the bottom of the screen. For example, it may suggest rotating your picture if the app detects that the image may be in the wrong orientation. Google appears to now be working on a UI change to this particular suggestion.

One of the best Pixel-only features is the tight integration of Google’s At a Glance widget with the Pixel Launcher and the lock screen. While the At a Glance widget is available on other Android devices, the Pixel version offers significantly more features. The At a Glance widget is prominently positioned at the top of the Pixel Launcher homepage on Pixel devices, but its placement is more dynamic on the lock screen. The current lock screen placement can feel cluttered, though, so Google is working on a new, cleaner layout.

The current lock screen layout on Google Pixel phones places the At a Glance widget above the clock when the clock is centered, and below the clock when it’s at the top. The widget has three complications: one showing the date, another showing the weather, and a third displaying snippets of information from the OS and select apps (like Google Clock) in a horizontally scrolling carousel. (Android’s widget APIs don’t allow for horizontally scrolling widgets, which is why At a Glance isn’t technically a widget, but it’s the closest term.)

Of all the many amazing Pixel-only features, the Pixel Thermometer app is perhaps one of the most polarizing. For many users, it serves little to no purpose, but for some, it’s an invaluable tool. The app uses an infrared sensor available on select Pixel Pro phones to measure the temperature of objects and the human body. Simply open the app, select the mode, and point the sensor at the object or person whose temperature you want to measure.

Pixel Thermometer offers simple, contactless temperature readings without needing a dedicated infrared thermometer. However, launching the app could be simpler. Currently, you have to unlock your phone before you can open the app from the launcher. If Google offered a shortcut to launch the Pixel Thermometer app from the lock screen, that would reduce the time needed to take a reading. Fortunately, Google is working on doing just that.

We’ve spotted plenty of changes and tweaks to Google Photos in the last few months. Now, it looks like the photo backup app is getting a notable UI change for new users or people upgrading to a new Android phone.

Google Photos lets users easily create a highlight video of their favorite photos from a vacation, activity, or event with just a few taps. This feature can also come in handy when you want to surprise someone with a video of your favorite memories with them, and that seems to be precisely what the app wants you to do with the feature this Mother’s Day.

Gemini is currently available for free for all Android users, but you need to subscribe to the Google One AI Premium plan to get Gemini Advanced, which brings access to more advanced AI models and other features. However, the Google One AI Premium plan is currently available only with monthly billing as an option. Google recently confirmed that the company is working on bringing annual billing options for accessing Gemini Advanced features. But that’s not all that Google is working on, as we’ve now spotted the company working on two more AI-centric subscription tiers within Google One.

A few weeks back, we spotted a new, upcoming feature in Google Photos that will allow users to share albums and photos via a QR code. We’ve now managed to get the feature working on the Android app and have more details about its limitations.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S series is the longest-standing and most successful Android tablet lineup ever. The Galaxy Tab S10 series includes the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus and Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, launched in September 2024. Now, we’ve spotted clues indicating that Samsung is working on successors for these, alongside a Lite variant for the existing lineup.

We previously revealed the existence of the Galaxy XCover 7 Pro and the Galaxy Tab Active 5 Pro, as well as the processors that could be used on those devices. This information was correct, as Samsung officially launched both devices with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 FE in October 2024. In our opinion, it was a phone that provided proper fan service by giving users a competent option in case they don’t want to spend a lot of money on the flagship Galaxy S24. We’ve spotted clues indicating that Samsung is working on a successor, presumably called the Galaxy S25 FE if it continues the nomenclature, and could come with the same Exynos 2400e processor. Samsung also plans to repeat the Exynos 1380 processor it used on the India-specific Galaxy M35 5G on its successor, presumably the Galaxy M36 5G.

Galaxy S25 FE could come with Exynos 2400e processor

We previously revealed the existence of the Galaxy XCover 7 Pro and the Galaxy Tab Active 5 Pro, as well as the processors that could be used on those devices. This information was correct, as Samsung officially launched both devices with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC.

If you’re like me, you probably have tens of thousands of photos backed up in Google Photos or a similar service. Finding specific memories can be tough, but the Google Photos app excels here thanks to its robust search feature — a hallmark of many Google products. However, this powerful search capability hasn’t been available when Browse your Google Photos library through Android’s native Photo Picker, though that’s finally set to change soon.

The Photo Picker is a feature that Google introduced in Android 13 that lets users choose specific images or videos to share with an app, as opposed to giving an app broad access to your phone’s gallery. While the Photo Picker is more private by design, it lacks a lot of the bells and whistles that built-in image pickers tend to have, such as sort options and a search bar.

Google offers an excellent keyboard app in the form of Gboard, available to all Android devices. It’s an app that does the job, so most users don’t think much about it, even though they may use it daily. Thankfully, Google does think about Gboard and what improvements it could make to the keyboard app. We’ve spotted references to several new features in the latest Gboard beta, like optional rounded keys, flicking keys to enter symbols, and more.

The web contains a vast amount of content, much of which is inappropriate for children. Various parental control tools on Android can help prevent children from finding inappropriate content, but many require installing additional software with invasive permissions. Google offers its own parental control suite, Family Link, which integrates deeply with the company’s ecosystem. Looking ahead, Google might integrate Family Link even more tightly with the operating system in a future Android 16 release.

Google Family Link makes it easy to create a managed Google Account for your child that has explicit content filters enabled in Chrome and Google Search. The Family Link app provides a centralized hub for managing your child’s online activities, and you can easily access it either through the dedicated Android app or within Android’s Digital Wellbeing settings.

Plenty of people are understandably a little paranoid about AI, but one of the best ways a company can help assuage those concerns is through transparency. That comes in a lot of forms (much like AI itself), including offering a deep look into the “thinking” going on behind the scenes. One of the simplest, though, is just offering a record of interactions, and that’s exactly what Google does with Gemini’s chat history. Right now, finding something specific in that big list of AI conversations can be a little tricky. Thankfully, Google appears to be on top of it.

Update, April 22, 2025 (06:40 AM ET): Google Messages’ media forwarding shortcut is rolling out to some users with the latest version of the app. Did you get it too? Let us know in the comments below!

Google is developing a handy new notification snoozing feature for its Messages app. We first spotted mentions of the feature in a teardown earlier this month. Now, we’ve managed to get it working in the latest Google Messages build (version messages.android_20250420_01_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic) to give you an early look at how the app will let you snooze chat notifications.

Like so many other things in life, when it comes to AI, you only get out of it what you put in. Now granted, in the case of AI that can be an incredibly complicated situation, involving mountains of training data that us end users aren’t privy to. But we can control what information we feed into AI when giving it a task, and when it comes to using Gemini on our phones, one of the most powerful ways to do just that is sharing what we see on our screens. Gemini Live just started rolling out screen sharing support widely, and we’ve got an early look at what could be one of the next big improvements to how it works.

Google has added plenty of features to Gemini since its launch, and we recently discovered evidence that the chatbot will gain the ability to analyze videos. Now, it looks like we managed to enable the feature.

Update, April 21, 2025 (04:24 PM ET): A few weeks back, we took a look at some changes in the works for how we interact with Gemini on Android. Specifically, Google was retooling Gemini’s compose box. We already got a preview of those new shortcuts for Gemini tools, and got a peek at Power up in action, but it wasn’t clear at the time exactly how this might all come together. Google still isn’t quite ready to hit “go” on these changes, but we’ve identified what could be the final look for the interface:

As you begin to enter text you’ll have the option to tap that little Gemini pencil icon to take advantage of Power up, and you’ll quickly get those expanded text prompts right in the compose box, ready for you to edit or submit to Gemini. While Google could revise this further before pushing it live, but considering how close this is to what we see with Gemini on the web, we’re probably in the right ballpark.

Whether you’re meeting up with friends or need someone to pick you up, being able to send your location to someone can be helpful in plenty of situations. While you could give that person the address you’re located at, it would be even more helpful to share your location in real time. You may be able to do this soon in the Google Messages app.

Gmail comes preloaded on Android flagships, so it’s often the de facto email app for most people since it does the job quite well. Nestled within Gmail is Google Chat, another one of Google’s many messaging apps, but one that not as many people use daily. Google hasn’t forgotten about Google Chat, though, as it is working on the ability to schedule messages and even bring Gemini features to it.

Google Photos has been working on an “Ultra HDR” editing feature for a while now. We first spotted signs of the feature in the app last September, but at the time, the option wasn’t functional, and it wasn’t clear what it was supposed to do. Still, we had a hunch it was tied to the Ultra HDR file format Google introduced with Android 14.

With the release of the fourth Android 16 beta, Google has uncapped the disk resize slider in the Linux Terminal app’s settings. In previous releases, the disk size was capped at 16GB. In Android 16 Beta 4, however, the disk can be resized to occupy most of the host device’s remaining storage, leaving 1GB free to prevent the virtual machine from consuming all available space.

I tested this feature on a Google Pixel 9 Pro running Android 16 Beta 4, successfully resizing the Linux disk to 42.3GB. The process took only a few seconds, and after restarting the VM, the increased storage was immediately available. According to Android’s storage settings, the total size consumed by the Linux Terminal app (including the base app and the resized VM disk) grew to approximately 45.52GB.

Every Tensor-powered Pixel phone, with the exception of the two foldables, has a fingerprint scanner underneath the display. Until recently, the Pixel’s under-display fingerprint scanner only functioned when the screen was on. Google finally addressed that limitation with a new feature called Screen-off Fingerprint Unlock in a previous Android 16 beta. Or so we thought. Google has mysteriously removed the feature’s toggle in the latest beta, suggesting the company won’t launch it in the upcoming stable release. Despite the missing toggle, the Screen-off Fingerprint Unlock feature is still working for those who previously enabled it. Furthermore, we discovered a way to enable it for users who didn’t get a chance to turn it on previously.

The Screen-off Fingerprint Unlock feature lets Pixel phones use fingerprint unlock even when their screens are off. In other words, the feature makes the fingerprint scanner always active, so all you have to do to unlock your phone when the screen is off is press your finger on the scanner area. Previously, the only way to keep the fingerprint scanner active at all times was to enable the always-on display, which keeps the display (and thus the fingerprint scanner) always powered on.

Earlier this week, we found evidence indicating Google will introduce an expressive new Material Design theme at next month’s Google I/O developer conference. Although several mentions and potential examples of this new theme have surfaced, the specifics of what the updated framework entails remain unclear. However, in the latest Android beta released recently, we spotted new evidence suggesting that colorful icons could be part of Google’s updated design guidelines.

While the fourth beta of Android 16 doesn’t bring major UI changes, Google did introduce updates to the expressive redesign it’s developing for Settings. Specifically, the Settings homepage (the first page displayed when opening the app) is getting colorful new icons for each entry. Currently, these entries feature simple gray, borderless icons to the left of the text. In the expressive redesign, however, these same icons are now enclosed within circles of different colors, adding some visual flair to the page.

If you want to look your best on a video call, you’ll need a great camera, adequate lighting, and a decent background. However, many people don’t have an ideal setup for video calls, or they’re simply not in a great location to take them. That’s why the best video chat apps provide various effects to help improve your video or audio quality. The exact effects available depend on the platform, though; some apps may lack certain effects or implement them in ways that can tax the device’s processor. To address this inconsistency and potential performance hit, Google is developing a system-wide Video Chat panel for Android that will let you apply effects to any video call.

While digging through the fourth beta of Android 16, I discovered strings for a new Quick Settings tile called “Video Chat.” The strings show that Android will support effects like background blur (which blurs your background environment), portrait relighting (which improves the lighting on your face), portrait touch-up (which retouches your face to remove imperfections), and studio-style mic (which suppresses background noise). For background blur, you’ll have the option to apply a light blur or a full blur to the background. The portrait relighting, portrait touch-up, and studio-style mic effects are simple on/off toggles.

People often resist change once they get used to something. Case in point: when Google removed the dedicated Quick Settings tile for Android’s Do Not Disturb mode, many users were up in arms. For those who toggle Do Not Disturb multiple times a day, the tile was an incredibly useful shortcut. While it’s still possible to toggle the mode from Quick Settings, the process now takes two taps instead of one. Fortunately, Google seems to have heard the complaints and is working on bringing back the dedicated Do Not Disturb tile.

If you don’t own a Pixel phone, you might not be familiar with this controversy. The context stems from the latest Pixel Drop update, which introduced Android 15 QPR2. This is the second quarterly platform release of Android 15, and one of its key additions is a feature called ‘Modes.’ This new Modes feature allows users to set up highly personalized Do Not Disturb schedules, complete with custom names, icons, activation triggers, display settings, and notification options.

Quick Share is one of the most convenient recent additions to Android, vastly simplifying the way users send and receive files when in close vicinity. The Quick Share UI is currently very functional, but Google seems to be preparing to give it a fresh coat of paint with a major UI redesign. Speculatively, this redesign could be on the lines of Google’s upcoming Material 3 Expressive design, as we see some similarities between this redesign and the leaked Expressive Settings redesign.

Google is on a mission to replace Google Assistant with Gemini. This involves swapping in the AI digital assistant on all surfaces that previously relied on Google Assistant. We’ve long discovered that even cars would make the switch, with spottings of Gemini on Android Auto. In fact, we even have demos of Gemini and Gemini Live running on Android Auto. Google has another OS flavor for cars called Android Automotive OS (AAOS) which resides in the in-vehicle infotainment system, and as you would have figured by now, even that will soon get Gemini.

WhatsApp‘s status feature is a very popular way to share updates with friends, family, and your entire contact list. While certainly useful, it does lag behind in functionality compared to the status/stories feature from Meta’s other offerings, like Instagram. For instance, Instagram users have a multitude of ways to add music to their story updates, whereas WhatsApp users only recently got their first way to do so. Thankfully, it seems that WhatsApp does want to catch up, as we’ve spotted multiple different music layouts in the works for status updates.

Google overhauls the design of the Android operating system every few years, usually coinciding with a new version of its Material Design language. The last major update arrived in late 2021 alongside Android 12, introducing the concept of dynamic color. Now, Android Authority has spotted evidence suggesting Google plans to introduce another new version of Material Design next month, reportedly aimed at making apps more ‘expressive.’

Earlier this week, I spotted an issue created by developer Michael Winkler on the GitHub repository for the Material Components Android library. In the issue, Winkler asked about the purpose of a new theme named “Material3Expressive.” A Google engineer working on Material Design for Android responded, stating: “Material is experimenting with bringing developers ways to make their apps more engaging by introducing more expressive features. Stay tuned for more updates and guidance!”

The Google Home app is your phone’s hub for all smart home activity, allowing you to access and control a variety of gadgets. Now, it looks like Google is tidying up the app by making a few UI changes.

Google is working on an upgraded Advanced Protection Mode for Android 16 that users will be able to enroll in through the Settings app. We already know this “security conscious protection mode” would block app sideloading, prevent 2G connectivity, and enable Memory Tagging Extension of apps. Installed apps will also be able to check your phone’s enrollment status and possibly implement further security measures. We’ve now learned more about the security measures that Advanced Protection Mode could bring and how some participating Android apps would enable further security features.

WhatsApp has offered the status feature for a while now, following in Snapchat‘s footsteps. Now, it looks like the Meta-owned platform might be copying another Snapchat feature.

Google has been using generative AI to create video clips for a while now. However, it hasn’t been easy for people to try it out for themselves. Thankfully, earlier today, Google rolled out Veo 2 support within Gemini Advanced, allowing the general public to generate 8-second video clips at 720p using nothing but basic text prompts. Ah, but what if you don’t pay for Gemini Advanced? For now, you are left out of the fun, but in the future, you might be able to try it for free.

If you live in the US, you may not be familiar with Uber Lite. It’s a lighter, simpler version of the regular Uber Android app and it’s only available in select countries like Ghana, India, Lebanon, South Africa, and so on. Although the Lite version of Uber isn’t available in the US, we could soon see its simpler UI added to the regular app through a new mode.

Last week, we spotted Google accidentally sharing an unreleased Circle Screen feature within Gemini as part of a dogfood build. We presumed the feature could bring Circle to Search-like abilities to Gemini. It seems Google is indeed thinking along the same lines but with a different implementation.

Smartphones are increasingly being targeted by thieves not for their monetary value but for the wealth of private financial data they contain. To combat the rise of phone theft, Google introduced several anti-theft features last year that make it harder for thieves to access data on stolen phones. One of these features, called Identity Check, prevents thieves from unlocking sensitive apps even if they know the phone’s passcode. Currently, Identity Check is only available on Pixel and Samsung phones, but it will be available on more devices with the upcoming Android 16 update.

Google released the Identity Check feature for its Pixel phones with the December 2024 Pixel Drop update, and Samsung introduced it to its Galaxy phones with its One UI 7 update. While no other device maker has announced their plans to implement the feature, we spotted it on the OnePlus 13 after installing the Android 16 beta. As part of Android’s suite of theft protection features, it is located under Settings > Google > Theft Protection.

Most smartwatches have a tiny screen, which is okay for basic gestures but nothing grandiose. If you want to do more with your smartwatch, you’ll eventually depend on a voice assistant. Currently, this is handled through Google Assistant on Wear OS smartwatches, but it will soon be handed off to Gemini. Google is also working to improve the ways that you can trigger the digital assistant on Wear OS watches by potentially adding a new “Raise to Talk” gesture.

Update, April 15, 2025 (06:32 AM ET): The source button in Gemini is now rolling out for users using the Google app v16.14.39. This makes us optimistic about an impending release to the stable branch.

Original article, April 3, 2025 (11:18 AM ET): When you ask Gemini a question, the chatbot provides a detailed response and highlights the sources from which it pulled the information. Currently, it displays the sources and related content in a horizontally scrollable list underneath the response. However, that could change soon.

One of the primary use cases for digital assistants has been the ability to run reminders and scheduled tasks. If you want something done as per a defined schedule, it makes sense to offload it to a digital assistant. Google could be working on something similar for Gemini, allowing users to schedule actions that can be performed in the future.

We spend a lot of time talking about the best Android phones and the latest Android version, but most people don’t have the newest devices with the most up-to-date Android release. In fact, the latest available data from Google showed that the majority of users are still running Android 12 or earlier. Because most users don’t have access to the latest Android version, Google backports security patches to older releases so users with older devices stay secure. However, Google doesn’t maintain support for older releases forever, and Android 12 is the next release that will lose support.

While the best Android phones include at least 128GB of internal storage, many budget-friendly phones offer considerably less. Some Android devices even ship with as little as 16GB of storage, a significant portion of which the Android operating system occupies. Despite Google’s efforts to compress Android and its mobile apps for low-end hardware, 16GB of storage doesn’t provide much space for apps, resulting in a poor user experience. That’s why Google recently increased the minimum storage requirement for Android devices.

Starting with Android 15, Google now requires Android devices to have at least 32GB of internal storage. Google mandates that 75% of this 32GB must be allocated to the data partition, which stores preinstalled system apps, system app data, certain system files, and crucially, all user apps and files. This doubles the previous minimum flash storage requirement of 16GB, introduced with Android 13 in 2022. Consequently, devices with less than 32GB of storage cannot upgrade to Android 15, as Google’s new requirement applies to both new and upgrading devices.

Last year, Google introduced Expressive Captions as part of Android’s Live Caption system. Expressive Captions not only show what’s being said in the audio but also how it’s being said, capturing elements like tone, volume, environmental sounds, and human noises. The goal is to make sure that even if you can’t hear the audio, you can still feel its impact. Now, it looks like Google is expanding the range of Expressive Captions available on Android devices that support Live Caption.

As a proud Gen-Zer, I enjoy memes quite a lot, so when I found out that Google is working on an AI-powered meme generator for Gboard, I was excited to try it. The feature promises to take a prompt, pick a base image, and write a fitting caption for it. Even though current AI is still just glorified autocorrect, it seems good enough that it should be able to generate memes just fine. Unfortunately, in reality, the end product is downright terrible.

Thanks to a source inside Google, Android Authority was able to explore an in-development version of the feature.

Autofill with Google is an underappreciated feature on popular Android phones. Google saves your data, such as name, address, and even login information, and automatically fills it out on web forms and sign-in pages. Most users take the feature for granted; even fewer people know you can change related settings through your Android phone. Google has recently been experimenting with UI revamps across various services, and it seems that a UI refresh is on the cards for Autofill, too.

Google Messages appears to be working on a useful improvement that would make it easier to see which of your contacts are using RCS (Rich Communication Services). The feature isn’t live yet but we spotted and enabled it during an APK teardown of a recent beta version of the app.

Short-form videos and doomscrolling go hand-in-hand. If you regularly spend time on social media or video platforms, chances are you’ve fallen into the trap, mindlessly scrolling through endless short videos until your brain checks out. For some, this habit can also become a serious issue. Studies show that overuse of short video apps is linked to problems like distraction, poor time management, and reduced learning capacity.

Recommendation algorithms are nothing short of ubiquitous, and it feels like you can’t read a news article, listen to a song, or watch a movie without immediately being presented with a bunch of suggestions for similar content. And while you can easily get caught up in endless debates about whether or not this is ruining our ability to make choices on our own, lots of people really enjoy the convenience it offers, and why not? It makes all the sense in the world that if you’re interested in one thing, you might also be interested in stuff that’s very similar to it. And if that’s good enough for media, why not email, too?

Google added several new video editing tools to the Google Photos app last year, including a few AI-powered video presets to help users trim videos, adjust lighting, control playback speed, and apply cool effects with just a few taps. One of these presets makes it incredibly easy to keep the main subject centered in the frame by automatically applying a dynamic motion-tracking effect. However, the Track preset currently doesn’t allow users to choose the main subject, which can be problematic in videos with multiple subjects in the frame. Google could soon implement a change to address this issue.

Google has been hard at work improving the overall Google Messages experience. After all, the app is the primary texting app on Android flagships, used by millions of people worldwide daily. Part of the improvement process involves experimenting with changes and seeing what resonates, and that’s what Google Messages appears to be doing for its latest round of UI changes that prominently opt for a desaturated look.

Taking your eyes off the road to look at your car’s infotainment screen while driving is a recipe for disaster, yet many of us still do it daily while following directions in Google Maps. Although some cars overcome this issue by bringing the navigation prompts within your line of sight, either through a heads-up display or on the screen behind your steering wheel, that’s not the case for the vast majority of the cars on the road today. Google seems aware of this shortcoming and is working on a new Android Auto feature to bring navigation prompts within your field of view, even if your car doesn’t have a heads-up display.

Google Photos is an excellent way to back up and organize your photo gallery across Android flagships. Google also keeps experimenting with changes to Photos, trying out different things to see what could help enhance the user experience. One of the latest changes we’ve spotted on Google Photos will make it easier to search for photos on large screened devices by bringing the search bar to the bottom and keeping it persistent across search results.

Google Photos allows you to share photos, videos, and entire albums with a simple sharing link, giving recipients a quick and easy way to view your content. However, it looks like Google is working on another way to share your photos and videos.

When you update your Android phone, what’s the first thing you do? Chances are, you head to Settings and check for updates in the software update section, right? And hey, that’s totally fine. That’s how you’re supposed to update your phone. The thing is: there’s more to it. Google Play system updates are just as important as your regular software updates, and they come with new features you might not even know about.

Google TV offers a wide selection of streaming services, so you’ll never run out of things to watch. The platform also provides access to over 150 free, live TV channels, which are easily accessible from the “Live” tab on the home screen. Currently, some Google TV devices provide quick access to these live TV channels with a dedicated “Free TV” button on the remote, but soon, more devices will include this feature.

In early 2023, Google began widely rolling out a “Live” tab to Google TV devices that provided access to free ad-supported television (FAST) channels like BBC Earth, Court TV, Hallmark Movies, Hell’s Kitchen, and more. The Google TV Freeplay library currently consists of over 150 live TV channels that you can watch directly from the home screen without installing any apps or paying a subscription.

Gemini’s file upload and analysis feature is set to gain support for video files soon. We first spotted evidence of this upcoming feature in a teardown of the Google app last month. Now, we have some details about the video formats the feature might support on release.

Your search history can be a powerful tool, and that’s not just true when we’re talking about what you’ve been up to in your browser. Your YouTube history, for instance, offers a convenient way to look back on the media you’ve been checking out, and can be invaluable when you’re trying to track down a clip you recently watched, but now can’t quite remember all the details of. Now Google’s bringing search history to a new corner of Android, as the platform’s song-search tool gets a memory.

Google offers a Remote Lock feature on Android phones as part of the company’s Find My Device suite of features. This feature isn’t completely secure, though, and Google previously confirmed that it’s working on an extra layer of authentication. Now, it looks like this authentication method is changing.

OnePlus wireless earbuds are great if you want fast charging and some noteworthy features at a reasonable price tag. The company is working on new audio products, and we’ve uncovered these new devices and their potential features.