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Google Plans New Features for Android by End of 2021
4 Dec, 2021 / 12:24 PM / Reeny Joseph

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Google announces new features for Android, including new widgets for YouTube Music, Google Play Books, and Google Photos; new Android Auto features; and updates for Google Assistant and Google Photos. This was announced by the company in a blog post.

The biggest car-based addition is that Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S21 owners will be able to use their phones as a car key with “compatible BMW vehicles” in select countries. Google says the feature will be available “on all BMW 2020 & 2022 model year vehicles,” and that it hopes to add more compatible vehicles in the future.

Other new Android Auto features that are coming soon include an option to have the car-friendly interface automatically launch when an Android phone is connected to the vehicle, a new play button on the home screen to start music playback with a single tap.

New widgets are also coming to the Android phone screen for the YouTube Music, Google Play Books, and Google Photos apps. The music widget offers playback controls and access to recently played tracks, while the books widget gives shortcuts to your library. There’s also a new Google Photos widget rolling out next week that can be set to specifically show pictures of select people and pets from your library.

Google’s “Family Bell” feature, its alarm-like reminder system that can be broadcast from smart speakers and displays, is also being updated to work on mobile devices.

Finally, Google has also provided an update on the rollout of its new permissions-reset feature on older Android phones, which automatically turns off permissions for apps you haven’t used in a while. The feature is already available for devices running Android 11 and above but will now expand to devices running Android 6 and up “starting next month,” the company says.