{"id":3271,"date":"2021-02-23T21:54:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T21:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1340237"},"modified":"2021-02-23T21:54:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T21:54:08","slug":"google-announces-a-bunch-of-new-features-coming-to-android-before-version-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=3271","title":{"rendered":"Google announces a bunch of new features coming to Android before version 12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Google may be hard at work on Android 12, but you won\u2019t have to wait that long to get some new features on Android devices. The company today announced six new features coming to various devices running older versions of the mobile OS with a littany of independent updates.<\/p>\n<p>For people using Android Messages \u2014 the texting app included with Pixel phones and a few other devices approximating \u2018stock\u2019 Android \u2014 Google will now let you schedule messages to send at specific times. It can be use for reminding a friend about something important, wishing someone a happy birthday very punctually, or organizing events. Google itself gives the example of texting a friend in another time zone; this way you can schedule a message to go out when they\u2019re not sleeping.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jxfrZV1kkhM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Also notable, Google introduced its <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/technology\/safety-security\/password-checkup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Password Checkup<\/a> tool \u2014 the one it\u2019s been using in Chrome for some time \u2014 to alert you if your login credentials have been exposed and potentially found on the shady parts of the internet. The tool applies to passwords stored with Google\u2019s Android-wide autofill feature, which works with a variety of apps. Although your password being compromised doesn\u2019t necessarily mean someone has stolen your information, it\u2019s definitely a good idea to switch it up.<\/p>\n<p>Google Maps is getting a proper dark mode too. You can go to the apps settings, tap on \u2018Theme\u2019 and select Always in Dark Theme. Likewise, you can opt to keep the light theme here if you prefer the brighter look.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1340246 lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/GoogleMaps_NightMode.max-1000x1000.png\" alt width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-lazy=\"true\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/GoogleMaps_NightMode.max-1000x1000.png 1000w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/GoogleMaps_NightMode.max-1000x1000-280x168.png 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/GoogleMaps_NightMode.max-1000x1000-450x270.png 450w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/GoogleMaps_NightMode.max-1000x1000-225x135.png 225w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/GoogleMaps_NightMode.max-1000x1000-796x478.png 796w\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Android has made improvements to TalkBack, an accessibility feature for visually impaired people. The update includes \u201c<span>more intuitive gestures, a unified menu, a new reading control menu and more.\u201d You can read more about these improvements <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products\/android\/all-new-talkback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/40hITd7mvXY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Google is also making it easier to use the Assistant without touching or unlocking your phone. Your device will now show cards that can be read more easily to confirm your actions, and you can now allow more personal actions \u2014 like sending texts and making calls \u2014 without unlocking your device. Previously, the Assistant would require you to unlock your phone before you could perform these actions (unless you were using headphones), which often made them useless; if I\u2019ve already unlocked my phone, chances are its easier to just dial a number or type a message. It\u2019s a welcome change.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1340248 lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/Assistant_LockScreen_Animated.gif\" alt width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" data-lazy=\"true\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, Google has introduced a few updates to Android Auto, allowing you to customize your wallpaper, play trivia games via the assistant, and adding shortcuts to the launchscreen.<\/p>\n<p>In the past couple of years, Google has been working towards making Android a little more modular, allowing the company to upgrade important services and apps associated with the mobile OS without requiring a full system update.&nbsp; Though we\u2019re sure to see more updates with Android 12, it\u2019s nice to know we don\u2019t have to wait a full year just to access some useful features.<\/p>\n<p><i>Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/thenextweb\/plugged-in\">and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-post-pubDate\"> Published February 23, 2021 \u2014 21:54 UTC <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/02\/23\/androids-gets-a-bunch-of-new-features\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google may be hard at work on Android 12, but you won\u2019t have to wait that long to get some new features on Android devices. The company today announced six new features&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}