✔️ 2022-04-26 02:20:00 – Paris/France.
April's Google Play system updates for Android phones will bring new Play Pass and Play Points features, ways to discover apps, and more.
In recent months, Google has started offering release notes for new features and changes to what it calls the "Google system." This includes updates to the Google Play Store and Google Play Services, as well as minor updates to your phone itself via "Google Play system updates". Rather than offering individual release notes for each aspect, Google consolidates them all in one place, as new features/tweaks often involve updates from a mix of the three.
The easiest way to check if you need to update Google Play Services on your phone is to follow a direct link to the app's Play Store listing and update it from there, if available. To update the Play Store, tap your avatar in the corner, then tap "Settings." In the “About” section, you will see an option to “Update Play Store”. Meanwhile, Google Play system updates can be found through the Settings app, under About phone > Android version > Google Play system update.
So far for Google Play April 2022 updates, there doesn't seem to be too many exciting new features. The few highlights, which will need to be investigated, include new features for Play Pass and Play Points, as well as new ways to discover apps through the Play Store.
Play Points enhancements may have already rolled out for some, with the rewards program recently allowing some customers to apply their points directly to a purchase rather than buying credits in 100-point increments.
In order to see the benefits of these improvements, you'll need to make sure your device has the Google Play system update for April, Play Services version 22.12, and Play Store version 29.9, all of which should start rolling out. be deployed on April Fools Day.
Update 4/1: Google has revised the release notes for the April 2022 game system updates, adding new car-specific changes. One particularly interesting line mentions the ability to watch streaming video apps on an infotainment system via "Android Auto". Google has confirmed that this is in fact the recently announced support for apps such as YouTube in cars equipped with Android Automotive.
Another new addition mentions settings related to encrypted files on your device, with the aim of securing your passwords. Both changes have been added below.
Update 4/15: In the past few days, Google has added some additional notes to the April changelog. The new notes explain that your Google Account information should soon be better organized. Under a new Security and Privacy heading, we see that Google Passwords on mobile is gaining the ability to import passwords, a feature already available through the web app.
Additionally, the company has removed the previously added mention of video applications for automotive infotainment systems. This removal was likely related to the wording rather than the unavailability of the feature itself.
Update 4/22: Google has rolled out another round of changes for Android devices as part of the April Play Now updates. The biggest changes are to Android's autofill service, powered by Google Play Services, with new support for virtual cards. Although details are not yet available, the overall purpose of a virtual card is to hide your real credit/debit card information from online retailers and any potential scammers. It also requires some changes to the Autofill Terms of Service.
If your phone is set to automatically back up information to Google Drive, you should soon see a suggestion to regularly back up your photos to Google Photos, assuming you haven't already. Finally, Google is discontinuing the use of Find My Device on company/organization-owned devices that are configured to use a work profile.
Update 4/25: The latest set of changes made by Google Play system updates brings some changes to the way children can request new permissions from their parents. There's also a privacy shift in how cards in your "wallet" are made available, particularly across Google's various apps.
Google Play Updates for April 2022
Critical fixes
- [Auto, Phone, Tablet, TV, Wear OS] Bug fixes for security and privacy, and services related to system management and diagnostics.
Account management
- [Auto, Phone, Tablet, TV] Introduced new settings and notifications for encrypted data on the device to improve password security.
- [Auto, Phone] With Google Account design updates, you can see an improved interface – cleaner and easier to understand.
- [Auto, Phone, TV] Technical migration to increase scalability of approval and parental consent experience on children's devices.
Device connections
- [Auto] Support for installing and using video streaming apps in in-car infotainment systems via Android Auto.
Google Play Store
- Improvements to Play-as-you-download functionality to allow gamers to start playing mobile games while the app download continues to reduce wait times.
- New features to help you discover the apps and games you love.
- Optimizations allowing faster and more reliable download and installation.
- New features of the Play Pass and Play Points programs.
- Google Play billing improvements.
- Ongoing improvements to Play Protect to protect your device.
- Various performance optimizations, bug fixes, and security, stability, and accessibility improvements.
Security and confidentiality
- [Phone] With improvements to Google Password Manager, users can now import passwords, store local user passwords, and switch accounts.
- [Phone] Removed support for using Find My Device on Android work profiles.
Utilities
- [Phone] Reminder experience for users to enable photo backups on their backup-enabled devices.
- [Auto, Phone] Improved suggestion experience for autofill.
Wallet
- [Auto, Phone] Updated Terms of Service for Autofill service.
- [Phone] Supports virtual card registrations when using autofill. A virtual card disguises your real card to protect you from potential fraud.
- [Phone] Added wallet privacy controls to let users control what's in their wallet and how it appears in other Google products.
System management
- Updates to system management services that improve device connectivity, network usage, stability, security, and upgradability.
Developer Services
- New developer features for Google and third-party app developers to support ads, accessibility, analytics and diagnostics, machine learning and AI, and security-related developer services and confidentiality in their applications.
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