Google Rolls Out New Android Features for the Holiday Season

Google is celebrating the holiday season with a handful of new features for Android smartphones and smartwatches, with some aimed at helping users get in the spirit.

Here’s a quick rundown of all the new Android features rolling out this holiday season.

Add holiday cheer to your photos and messages

Heading into the holiday season, you’ll find unique designs from two new artists, Australian husband-and-wife visual duo DABSMYLA, and renowned watercolor artist Yao Cheng Design.

Just pick your photos, select your design and rearrange the layout with simple drag-and-drop controls.

New Emojis

Emoji Kitchen also has new emoji you can mash up into creative sticker combos via Gboard. Add some extra 💙 holiday ⛄️flair ❄️ to your messages with compatible emoji.

Easily access your favorite content

The new Reading mode on Android creates an accessible reading experience that can be helpful for people who are blind, low vision or dyslexic.

Once installed to your settings, it adds customizable display options — including contrast, font type and size — and a text-to-speech function with speed co

New YouTube Home screen Search widget

You can also easily access content with YouTube’s new Home screen Search widget. With a quick tap from your Home screen, you can dive right into your library of videos, Shorts or subscriptions.

Also starting next week, you can cast directly from the Google TV app to your compatible TV with a single tap. You can keep browsing other options while you’re watching and use your device as a remote control, too.

Share your Digital Car Key with friends

You can now share your compatible digital car key with friends and family across Pixel and iPhones (coming soon to select phones with Android versions 12 and up). You can view and change who has access to your car in your phone’s digital wallet app.

New tiles on Wear OS

Google is adding new tiles to help you get more things done from your watch, like getting in touch with your favorite contacts and viewing sunrise and sunset times to plan your day.

Google has also updated the Keep app on Wear OS so your notes and to-dos written on your phone will look just as good on your watch.

And over the next week, you can use Google Assistant to quickly jump into more than 30 types of exercises with the Adidas Running app.

To learn about these features and many more, visit this link.