Google LLC’s Android team today announced a lengthy list of new features for Android products that will help people schedule holiday time with family, access widgets and interact with their cars.

In tune with the holiday theme, “Family Bell” is a new feature for Android that will help families stay on track with daily schedules. It can be set up on a phone, home speaker or smart display to keep everyone on track for important events throughout the day.

When an event comes up, a “chime” will sound for every member of the family at the appointed time on the devices chosen with a message informing them of the event. For example, family movie time, come to dinner, get ready for an outing or anything that needs to be scheduled to keep a group in action without making it an across-the-house shouting match.

Three core Google apps — Google Play Books, YouTube Music and Photos — are getting updates to their widgets on the home screen to make them more accessible than ever before.

With the Google Play Books widget users will be able to access their library and keep track of audiobook progress. The YouTube Music widget puts playback controls right on the home screen. And users can put their family right where they want them using the Google Photos People & Pets widget.

Updates to Android Auto

The Android Auto digital car key feature is now available in select countries on the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro and Samsung Galaxy 21 for compatible BMW vehicles. The technology works over near-field communication technology and first became available in the 2021 BMW 5 Series.

People will be able to get going faster with the new auto-launch setting, which will start Android Auto as soon as the phone is connected to a compatible car.

Coming out in the next few months users will need only tap their phone and use their voice to control their phone for searches and text messages so that they don’t take their eyes off the road. For example, a single tap on the news search icon and speaking a favorite artist or song to play it. Or, tap to respond to a text message with voice, or using a custom message from Google Assistant.

Additional security updates

Android already has a number of security updates that protect users from malicious apps, but now the operating system will automatically turn off runtime permissions for apps that have not been used in a long time.

Runtime permissions allow apps to access data on the phone or take actions on the users behalf, such as read from contacts, send text messages and similar actions. Users might think of apps spying on them by watching the camera or listening to the microphone, but many apps access data stores, photos, contacts and wireless in the background even months after they’re installed and not touched.

Users can always turn these permissions back on again if they so desire by opening the app again or through the settings menu.

Starting next month, this feature will expand to support billions of devices that support Google Play services on Android 6.0 or higher.

Image: Google