Google has a bevy of recent options coming quickly to Android, together with new widgets for YouTube Music, Google Play Books, and Google Photos; new Android Auto options; and updates for Google Assistant and Google Photos. The firm detailed the brand new options in a blog post.

The greatest car-based addition is that from at present Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S21 house owners will be capable to use their telephones as a automotive key with “compatible BMW vehicles” in choose nations. Google introduced it was engaged on the automotive key function for Android 12 in May, particularly citing BMW as one of many producers with which it could work. Google says the function might be obtainable “on all BMW 2020 & 2022 model year vehicles,” and that it hopes so as to add extra suitable autos sooner or later.

Other new Android Auto options which might be coming quickly embody an choice to have the car-friendly interface routinely launch when an Android telephone is linked to the car, a brand new play button on the homescreen to begin music playback with a “single tap,” a brand new search icon to shortly discover music, and new sensible reply choices for textual content messages.

New widgets are additionally coming to the Android telephone display screen for the YouTube Music, Google Play Books, and Google Photos apps. The music widget affords playback controls and entry to lately performed tracks, whereas the books widget provides shortcuts to your library. There’s additionally a brand new Google Photos widget rolling out subsequent week that may be set to particularly present footage of choose folks and pets out of your library. As nicely as a brand new widget, Google Photos’ Memories function will even begin exhibiting curated photographs and movies of occasions like New Years Eve inside the usual photograph grid interface.

Google’s “Family Bell” function, its alarm-like reminder system that may be broadcast from sensible audio system and shows, can be being up to date to work on cellular gadgets.

Finally, Google has additionally supplied an replace on the rollout of its new permissions-reset function on older Android telephones, which routinely turns off permissions for apps you haven’t used shortly. The function is already obtainable for gadgets working Android 11 and above however will now broaden to gadgets working Android 6 and up “starting next month,” the corporate says, indicating a January rollout. It beforehand stated the enlargement would start rolling out in December.

As is typical with these sorts of function drops from Google, these new choices are releasing in quite a lot of completely different timeframes, starting from “today” for the BMW automotive key function to the “coming months” for the Android Auto voice search and sensible replies options.