The beta version of the Google App has just made its way to version 7.0, and there appears to be a lot of changes aimed at the Google Assistant, and since the Google Assistant runs from the Google App, that makes plenty of sense. It appears that this update brings some toggle notifications for the Google Assistant, there’s also a toggle to auto-add app icons for new installations. Of course this is only for Android O, so that affects a very small number of users, since only a handful of devices can run Android O right now since it is in a developer preview. The update also fixes some crashes for dismissing cards.
Now you’ll be able to get notifications for weather, traffic and such from the Google Assistant. This works for both the Assistant on your smartphone, but also the one that lives inside of Google Home. The settings are a tad different for each, though. So instead of asking Assistant what the weather is like, you can simply look at your notifications and see, although that might not be easier than simply asking Assistant. When you turn off notifications – whether it’s in the app or your phone is on do not disturb – you’ll still get alarms and such as usual.
In the teardown, Android Police didn’t find a whole lot of changes here, but they did find that services are going to be easier to manage in a future update. This is important seeing as all of the Internet of Things devices that work with the Google Home are managed through the Google App. And as more and more products gain support, it’s going to become a bit of an annoyance to actually manage all of these products. There’s also mention of “Bisto” which is currently unclear whether that is a new product category or a device, but it definitely looks like a new category. This update is available now for those using the beta version of the Google App and should be rolling out to everyone over the next few days. The app doesn’t have a lot of changes for the user, but there are plenty of under-the-hood changes.