Google gives us the long teeth with the new widgets for iPhone

One of the biggest inconsistencies in the tech industry is the fact that Google apps for iPhone are, in many cases, much better than official apps for Android.

[Las 10 razones de Google para que un usuario de iPhone se pase a Android]

Google’s apps for the iPhone are very popular, to the point that users sometimes get new features sooner than Android users. Today, this is confirmed again with the presentation of the new Google widgets for iOS.

Google “betrays” Android with iOS 16

With iOS 16, Apple has caught up with Android in some ways, but as usual its implementation is perhaps more appealing. Widgets on the lock screen, for example, are not really new, but on the iPhone they are much more elegant and beautiful.

Google demonstrated this with an update to its core iOS apps that adds support for lock screen widgets. It’s not just that the design is very minimalist and attractive, it’s that they also seem very useful without overwhelming us with information. For example, the Gmail widget shows the number of new emails we’ve received since the inbox was last opened; and the Google Drive widget allows us to open a file directly from the lock screen, which has been highlighted or recommended.

All of these widgets have one thing in common, they are very minimalist in both design and functionality. They don’t show a lot of information, but in most cases they only show the information we want, like the Google Maps widget, which shows if there are restaurants or gas stations nearby when we let’s drive.

It is also true that other widgets are simple buttons that open the corresponding application, such as Google Lens or Chrome, which opens a new tab (normal or incognito) or, as a wink, open the Dinosaur Chrome game. Others are buttons to open specific functions, such as the one that opens the microphone with the Google app to detect the song currently playing, for example.

On the home screen, the YouTube widget has also been improved, with direct access to Shorts and our subscriptions, as well as the search box.

It’s worth wondering how long Google’s “affection” for iOS will last, given that the company is gearing up to fight Apple directly, focusing more on Pixel mobile exclusives.

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