The monthly “Google System Release Notes” primarily detail what’s new in Play services, Play Store, and Play system update across Android phones/tablets, Wear OS, Google/Android TV, Auto, and PC. Some features apply to end users, while others are aimed at developers.

Like most Google apps, Messages A/B tests many features. However, it takes the RCS/SMS client a rather long time to actually launch these capabilities in stable even after they are announced. From various reports, Google itself, and devices we’ve checked, this is the current state of Messages.

In 2024, YouTube Music switched to quarterly “New Features Highlights,” but skipped the Q3 edition. Google is now back with a cumulative list to summarize the second half of the year in launches.

Google Photos is simplifying the bottom bar to three tabs, and another big design change tests a very prominent row of shortcuts.

Earlier this month, Google started testing Gemini in Google Assistant on the Nest Mini and Audio, and here are the new voices. 

Gemini Advanced subscribers are getting access to a new “Deep Research” capability. It is the “first feature in Gemini” to bring Google’s vision of agents that can perform complex actions on your behalf.

After rolling out a new PDF viewer, Files by Google has detailed a trio of new features, including integration with Gemini’s upcoming “Ask about this PDF” functionality.

Google Keep users this week are being prompted to “reload” their notes, while there’s also a small design tweak on Android that curves corners.

After hitting the Google app beta channel on Monday, access to 2.0 Flash Experimental in the Gemini app on Android is now rolling out to stable users.

Following Android, Google is rolling out an update to the Gemini app on iPhone that lets users select 2.0 Flash Experimental.

As announced with the December 2024 Feature Drop, Google is rolling out an “Enhance Now Playing” setting for Pixel devices.

Instagram for Android is taking advantage of Android’s Camera Extensions API to power a “Night Mode” on the latest Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones. 

Fitbit introduced Cardio Load and Target Load with the Pixel Watch 3, and the metrics are now rolling out to the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2, as well as Fitbit smartwatches and trackers. 

Following Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental in the past week, Google is now letting Gemini Advanced customers access a new 2.0 Experimental Advanced model.

After adding Pixel Screenshots “Save” integration, Circle to Search is updating its shimmer animation to use the four Google colors.

In early 2021, the Google Play Store rolled out a Nearby Share-powered method for sending apps on your device to others. This feature is soon going away.

A new version of Google Play services on Wear OS will see watches download updates using Wi-Fi and cellular networks instead of Bluetooth. 

As previewed last month, the Google Home app is rolling out Member access with the Public Preview program.

Google today announced Veo 2, as well as updates to Imagen 3 and a new Whisk experiment that showcases the latest model and Gemini.

Files by Google has rolled out a new PDF viewer after previously relying on Google Drive. 

As promised last week, Google is rolling out access to Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental in the Android app.