Google

When Apple Music first launched in 2015, playing it on anything other than an Apple device was impossible. Thankfully though, over the years Apple has made its streaming service available to access through third-party devices and speakers, including Amazon Echo and Google-owned speakers. This article focuses on Google devices. If you have a Google Home mini or a newer Nest-branded smart...

Google includes a Live Captions transcription feature in version 89 of its Chrome browser for desktop. Live Captions uses machine learning to create a real-time transcription for videos or audio played through the browser, which can make online media more accessible for members of the Deaf community and other people with hearing loss. Once enabled, Live Captions appear in a box in the bottom ...

If you buy a new iPhone to replace your existing one and you use the Google Authenticator app to access online accounts protected by two-factor authentication (2FA), you should transfer those accounts to your new phone as soon as possible, because without the 2FA codes close at hand, you could find yourself locked out of your online accounts. 2FA adds an extra layer of security to your...

Google Lens can now recognize over a billion items in the world around us, the search engine giant announced this week. That's four times as many things that the AI-powered feature could identify when it was first launched last year, thanks partly to a huge number of Google Shopping products which have been added to its knowledge base. While its optical character recognition engine has...

In Chrome 66, rolling out now for Mac and iOS, Google has added a password export option to the web browser so that you can easily migrate your login details to another browser via a third-party password manager app. In this article, we'll show you how to export your passwords from Chrome on Mac and iOS. At the end of the process, you'll be left with a CSV file containing all your login...

Google is continuing on with its #GetTheMessage campaign attempting to convince Apple to adopt the RCS messaging protocol, this time taking out a large New Year's-themed ad at Harmon Corner in Las Vegas. The digital billboard urges Apple not to "drop the ball" on fixing its "pixelated photos and videos."Hey Apple, it's Android the ball may have dropped on 2022, but you don't have to drop...

The Google Chrome app for Mac was today updated with new Memory Saver and Energy Saver modes, which are designed to give users more control over memory usage and battery life. Memory Saver mode frees up memory from tabs that are not being actively used, allowing for a smoother experience for tabs that are in use. Google says that this mode is particularly useful when doing other system...

Google search queries on desktop will now return results in a continuous scroll instead of being divided into several pages, the company announced today (via The Verge). The change is reminiscent of the way modern social media feeds work, although Google's version isn't quite the "infinite scroll" that social network users will be familiar with. Google says a search will now return six pages ...

Google is continuing on with its attempt to convince Apple to adopt the RCS messaging standard, publishing a new "it's time for ‌RCS‌" blog post. Promoted heavily by Google, ‌RCS‌ or Rich Communication Services is a messaging standard that is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard. It provides support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, and bigger file...

The UK's competition watchdog has begun its investigation into the market dominance of Apple and Google's mobile browsers, months after it said it was considering a high-level probe. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced Tuesday that responses to its June consultation had revealed "substantial support" for a full investigation into how Apple and Google dominate the market and ...

Google today announced that popular streaming music service Spotify will be able to bill Android users directly in the Google Play version of Spotify without needing to go through the Google Play billing system. Spotify is Google's first partner for "User Choice Billing," a feature that allows Android users to make purchases using the payment option they prefer. User Choice Billing is...

Google in October launched the Pixel 7 Pro, its newest high-end flagship smartphone. The Pixel 7 Pro came out just weeks after Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro Max, so we thought we'd compare the cameras of the two smartphones, pitting the high-end iPhone against the high-end Pixel 7. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. On paper, the ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro...

Google today announced that Android users will be able to add emoji reactions to SMS texts received from iPhone users in Google's Messages app. This feature and other improvements to the app will begin rolling out in the coming weeks. Given that the Messages app on iOS lacks support for the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol, emoji reactions from Android users will appear as annoying ...

Google has now rolled out all of the promised Lock Screen widgets for its iPhone apps, including the Google app, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Google News, and Google Drive. The rollout was completed today with two Lock Screen widgets for Maps, following five widgets for the Google app that were released on Wednesday. In version 233.0 of the Google app, the widgets include the following...

Google last week unveiled the Pixel Watch, a Wear OS-based smart watch that has a round display and a suite of health tracking features. We picked up a Pixel Watch and thought we'd compare it to Apple's newest flagship wristworn device, the Apple Watch Series 8. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Since the Apple Watch launched in 2015, Apple has not strayed from a...

During Google's latest launch event, the company made multiple references to Apple and the iPhone 14, iOS 16, and Apple's reluctance to adopt support for RCS messaging. Google yesterday held an event where it announced the Pixel Watch, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, and offered new details on the Pixel Tablet. During the event, some presenters couldn't help but take a few jabs at Apple and some of ...

Google today announced the launch of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones, which will directly compete with the iPhone 14 lineup, plus it debuted the Pixel Watch, an Apple Watch competitor. MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera was at Google's event, and he was able to get some hands-on time with the new devices to give us a look at how they measure up to Apple's latest product lineup. Subscrib ...

New images of Google's upcoming "Pixel Watch" have been leaked online ahead of when the company is expected to provide more information on its first in-house smartwatch during an event on Thursday, October 6. Google initially offered a preview of the Pixel Watch during its Google I/O conference over the summer. The Pixel Watch is the first smartwatch directly from Google and an answer to...

Google today announced that it is shutting down its Stadia cloud gaming service, with access set to end in mid-January 2023. Google will be providing refunds for all hardware purchases, all game purchases, and all purchases of in-app add-on content made through the Stadia store. Stadia was not able to gain the traction with users that Google was expecting, which is why it is being shuttered.F...

Just a few hours before Apple releases iOS 16 to the public, Google has previewed its upcoming Lock Screen widgets for its iPhone apps, including the Google app, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Google News, and Google Drive. Google says the Lock Screen widgets will be available in the "coming weeks" as its iPhone apps are gradually updated on the App Store. The widgets allow users to quickly...

Google's Android team today launched a new "Get the Message" website that again calls on Apple to adopt Rich Communication Services or RCS for the Messages app. Google has been pushing Apple to adopt ‌RCS‌ for months now, with no response from Apple. ‌RCS‌ is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard. It offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages,...

Google this week launched its latest earbuds, the $200 Pixel Buds Pro, which are designed to compete with the AirPods Pro. In our latest YouTube video, we tested out the Pixel Buds Pro to check them out and to test whether they're on par with the $250 ‌AirPods Pro‌. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The Pixel Buds Pro are more affordable than the ‌AirPods Pro‌ and...

Google last week launched the Pixel 6a, a $449 budget smartphone that's designed to compete with more affordable smartphones like Apple's iPhone SE. We picked up a Pixel 6a to see how it measures up to the iPhone SE in terms of design, performance, and camera technology. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The Pixel 6a has a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED display, which means...

In response to the Digital Markets Act receiving final approval from the Council of the European Union this week, Google today announced that it now allows developers of non-gaming apps to offer alternative billing systems to users in the European Economic Area (EEA), including countries in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Google will reduce its commission by 3% for...

Google has officially released ChromeOS Flex, a method of replacing the operating system on older PCs and Macs that essentially turns them into Chromebooks. The idea is that if you have an aging Mac lying around that can't run macOS 12 Monterey, then you can install ChromeOS Flex on it using a bootable USB stick and then try out what Google's cloud-first operating system has to offer....