A new feature drop is making its way to the Android platform. It’s now December which means the busy holiday season is here. Many of you have started planning how to spend their Christmas with the whole family. The pandemic is still not over but we have many reasons to go on living. It’s time to find joy even in the simplest thing. The Android team wants to help everyone by launching new features and improvements that will make things more efficient for the people.
One helpful feature is the Family Bell. It helps the whole family keep track of schedules. You can set up the Family Bell on an Android device, smart display, or home speaker. A bell will ring for notifications and reminders.
With the Family Bell, we’re hoping you don’t forget any task or project. With a full schedule, we may forget a number of things to do because they are just too many. The family bell will ring on your devices. You can edit, customize, or manage the Family Bell from a device.
Widgets are also helpful as they are easier to view information and content from different Google apps on the Home screen. Three new widgets are ready: Google Play Books widget, YouTube Music widget, and Google Photos People & Pets widget. With these widgets, you can enjoy a lot of content from e-books to audiobooks, holiday tunes, and photos of your family and friends, and yes–even pets.
When you want to look back at past holidays and celebrations, you can check the Memories in Google Photos. They will appear in a photo grid, showing photos and videos from your holidays.
Other improvements may be seen on Android Auto. It can launch automatically when you connect and Android phone to your vehicle. You can soon enjoy smart reply options, Google Assistant, and voice to search for music. You can also now use your Android phone to lock/unlock your car. At the moment, the Samsung Galaxy S21 and the Pixel 6/Pro can work on compatible BMW cars in select countries.
App permissions have been improved especially in terms of privacy. Permissions will be auto-reset on Android which is safe for everyone. And to express yourself better and creatively, you can enjoy the Emoji Kitchen that lets you combine emoji into stickers to share with others.
