Category: Android Google

Android Google

How to Watch Google’s I/O 2024 Keynote

Google’s I/O developers conference is almost here, and we expect to learn more about Android 15 and upcoming AI updates. The event kicks off with a keynote presentation at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Google’s hometown of Mountain View, California, followed by breakout sessions over two days.

You can watch the keynote event at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 14.Google is set to stream the session live here.

There’s also a livestream option with American Sign Language, which you can catch here.

In the leadup to I/O, Google has unveiled the Pixel 8A, its more budget-friendly phone that shares many of the same features as the flagship Pixel 8. It costs $500 and will be available May 14, the same day as Google I/O. 

Last year, Google unveiled the Pixel Fold, as well as features like Magic Editor in Photos and Immersive View for Maps. So it’s safe to assume we’ll see a mix of hardware and software announcements during this year’s keynote event (though rumor has it the company may wait to debut the next generation of the Pixel Fold until later this year).

Our staff will be on the ground at Google I/O, sharing live updates on everything announced, so be sure to follow along here at CNET. 


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Android Google

Google Messages notifications will show names of unknown people who contact you

Google Messages logo on smartphone laying on table (2)

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Names of unknown people who contact you could start showing in Google Messages notifications.
  • For this feature to work, those people will need to have profile discovery enabled and have the number linked to their Google account.
  • Google is working on allowing users to enable or disable profile discovery within Messages.

Wish you could know who that unknown sender who just contacted you out of the blue is? Google appears to be working on a feature for Messages that will tell you that person’s name in the text message notification you receive.

An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.

While looking through the latest beta version of Google Messages (messages.android_20240506_01_RC00.phone_samsung_openbeta_dynamic), we discovered a change to the notification you receive whenever you get a new message. If you get a text from a number that’s not saved in your contacts list and they have profile discovery enabled, that notification will include the sender’s name. You can see an example in the picture below.

Google Messages notification names

Ryan McNeal / Android Authority

Unfortunately, this function only works if that person has profile discovery on. To enable or disable profile discovery, you need to go to your Google account via the web. There’s a support page that explains how to do it in Google Messages, but those steps don’t work yet as the company is still working on adding the setting. That setting is available in the latest beta, but it’s hidden by default, and enabling it by modifying the APK doesn’t work.

It’s important to note that seeing a name with an unknown number isn’t necessarily new. A number of beta

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Android Google

A new iPhone shortcut replicates Android’s best new feature

One of Android’s best new features, Circle to Search, is unfortunately not available to iPhone users. But Google is throwing Apple fans a bone with a solution that essentially replicates the function.

Google’s design manager for Google Lens, Minsang Choi, shared a new iOS shortcut in a post on X that’s designed to leverage the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro devices. When activated, the shortcut takes a screenshot of whatever you’re looking at and immediately funnels it into the Google app and runs a Lens scan. “It’s basically Circle to Search, but faster,” Choi exclaims.

The Google app shortcut in action.
GIF: Umar Shakir / The Verge

Over on 9to5Mac, author Abner Li discovered that the shortcut can also be used by iPhones that support the Back Tap. The accessibility feature lets you double-tap or triple-tap the rear of your iPhone and activate system functions like Magnifier, turn on the Flashlight, or in this case, run an iOS shortcut.

If you’d like to try the new Circle to Search-ish feature using Back Tap, first confirm you have an iPhone 6S or newer running the latest iOS, then:

Now when you’re browsing around on your phone, you can just tap the back of your phone and the shortcut will automatically take a screenshot and run a Google Lens scan. It’s not precise like on Android where you just circle what you want, but it works!


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Android Google

New Google Messages update notification is really annoying

Google Messages Prompt To Update

C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Google is rolling out a new way to conduct Google Messages updates.
  • The update notification takes up your entire display and opens every time you start the app.
  • It’s a not-so-subtle way for Google to encourage you to keep Messages up to date.

Keeping your Android apps up to date is important. Not only do updates bring new features, but they also sometimes incorporate new security protocols to keep you and your device safe. However, it looks like Google is now going to take updates very seriously — so seriously that it might just be a huge annoyance.

Let’s take Google Messages updates, for example. For a long time now, if there’s been an update for Messages, you would get a notification about it when you open the app. The notification would take up about half the screen and could be easily closed. Once you close it, that’s it — you wouldn’t get notified about it again until there’s another update.

Today, though, we are seeing a new system. In Messages, the update takes up the entire display, as you can see in the image at the top of this article. Furthermore, if you close the update prompt without downloading the new version, you’ll see the same full-page notification about updating the next time you open the app. This will repeat forever until you update (or until the app auto-updates in the background).

Check out the video clip below to see how relentlessly annoying this is:

Google actually warned us that this would eventually happen. Back in January, the Android Developers Blog posted about this change. However, this is the first time we’re seeing it in action, and it’s…a lot.

Granted, keeping your apps up to date is important, and this new system

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Android Google

Google officially brings Gemini to Android, iOS in Canada

Google is expanding some Gemini features in Canada and other regions, including officially making the generative AI-powered assistant available on Android and iOS.

The search giant announced that Canadians can now download the Gemini app on Android or opt to use Gemini through Google Assistant. Canadians using iOS can access Gemini through the Google app as well, though the rollout will take place over the “next couple of weeks.”

Notably, Canadian Android users have been able to access the Gemini app for months via sideloading. Back in February, we detailed how to access the Gemini app in Canada since it wasn’t available through the Play Store. I sideloaded Gemini and have been using it in place of Google Assistant ever since.

Still, official availability should make Gemini more accessible since people no longer need to jump through various hoops to sideload the chatbot.

Alongside the official availability of Gemini on mobile in Canada, Google announced it was expanding Gemini Extensions to “all languages and countries Gemini currently supports.”

That means Canadians now have access to Gemenini Extensions in French. In all, Extensions are now available in over 40 new languages, including Arabic, German, Hindi, Spanish and more.

Extensions allow Gemini to hook into other Google apps and services to pull real-time information from those sources. That includes services like Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Google Maps.

If you haven’t already sideloaded Gemini, you can download the app from the Play Store here. iOS users can download the Google app here.

GIFs credit: Google

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Android Google

Google Phone’s New Audio Emojis for Android Include a Fart Button

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Coming soon to an Android phone call near you: a fart button.

As first reported by 9to5Google, Android users on the beta update channel are noticing a new menu in calls made with the Google Phone app. Dubbed “Audio Emoji,” this surprise new feature gives callers a soundboard with six different sound effects, which both sides of the call can hear.

These include clapping, laughing, celebrations, a sad trombone, a “ba dum tss,” and, for some reason, farting. Really, the only thing that’s “emoji” about them is that the buttons to play the sounds are emojis.

Audio emojis also include short graphics to go along with the sound effects, including a particularly foul animation of a “chocolate ice cream cone” squishing to the ground while surrounded by flies. You can guess which emoji that effect goes with. At the very least, it seems as if these animations are reserved for the sender, although they might play for the receiver if they also also have audio emojis enabled.

These questions will need to be answered over time, as the feature is rolling out slowly—I didn’t have access to it on my Pixel 8 Pro, and Google has yet to even formally announce it. 

If you find yourself saddled with the Audio Emoji menu and would rather not see a small cartoon poop in your phone calls, you can disable the menu via an “X” in its top right corner. It’s unclear whether this prevents friends from sending sound effects your way, though.

At any rate, there is a cooldown between emojis, so you at least won’t have to worry about your call partner spamming you with a fart into sad trombone into ba dum tss combo.

Google’s biggest hardware and

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