Google+, Google’s answer to the social networking craze and geared towards users of their ecosystem, has seen a few major updates lately, including a complete overhaul for both mobile and desktop. For the Android client in particular, fixes and updated features roll out fairly quickly. Such is the case with today’s update, bringing the app up to version 7.3 and giving users a huge number of fixes and improvements, as well as a couple of nifty new features, some long-requested. Googler Luke Wroblewski, in the usual fashion, took to his own Google+ page to give users a breakdown of the updated features, including accessibility features and the ability to surf faster over Wi-Fi.
The improvements include ten different bug fixes, for starters. As well as four accessibility requests that users have been making have now been granted. However, one of the headline features of the update, is the ability to load pages faster on Wi-Fi using pre-caching and Chrome custom tabs. When a user is viewing a post that has a link in a non-metered connection, Google+ will pre-load the content behind the link in a Chrome custom tab. With Chrome custom tabs already being faster than regular browser windows, the pre-loaded pages should load up seamlessly. If a user is on a Wi-Fi network that is metered or they simply don’t want to use the feature with that particular network, they can specify such in the settings on a network-by-network basis.
New features aimed at community participants and moderators are also packed into the newest iteration of Google’s social networking app. Moderators can now look at a moderation queue to see new posts that may need to be deleted or approved and ban users from the same menu, if necessary. When scrolling through communities and collections, the app’s header will also auto-hide, allowing you more room to see the content at hand. Multiple selection for the activity log is on board, as is filtering for notifications. Hit up the source link for full info and keep an eye on the Play Store, as the update is already rolling out to some users.