Google Play Services v8.3 is beginning to roll out to everyone right now. And there are some cool new features included in this update. As always, the features are mostly behind the scenes things that most of us won’t really see. Play Services has all kinds of hooks inside that can bring some new features to your smartphone, and various apps, without needing an OTA update. Which is the genius of Google.
In version 8.3 of the Google Play Services APK, there are some new features that are quite interesting. Android Police tore apart the APK and found some cool goodies. Including some changes to Nearby and Smart Lock. There are a few strings in the new APK that bring Google accounts, Smart Lock and Nearby together. Currently, there’s no clue what Google is actually doing here. But it does look a bit interesting. Maybe, Smart Lock settings will be backed up to your Google account? We have no idea, right now.
There are also some strings about profile merging. Which would likely allow users to merge separate profiles. Probably won’t be a huge feature for many, but it will be interesting to see what Google does here. And finally, we have screenshot annotation with feedback. Some Google apps like Play Music allow you to send feedback to the developers to make the app even better. Well now with the new version of Google Play Services, you can send annotated screenshots along with the feedback. This is great as it helps developers find out what exactly you are talking about, a bit faster. And if it’s a bug, they can work to replicate the bug even faster and figure out how to fix it. It’ll make things really convenient, to say the least.
Google Play Services v8.3 is rolling out now. But you know how Google is with these updates, which means it’ll likely be a few days before it rolls out to your device. So be patient when waiting for the update. Additionally, if you are thinking about side loading the APK, make sure you have the proper one. Google Play Services is a bit different as there is a different version for each set of hardware that’s out there. And if you side load the wrong one, you’ll have lots of new problems.