Memories in Photos and Drive file suggestions are its latest additions
Google made a big show out of widgets when Android 12 finally arrived on Pixel devices last week. Some of them arrived during this summer’s beta, but there are a select few we’ve only seen in previews and marketing materials. Timed perfectly with today’s Pixel 6 launch, a couple of new Material You widgets are now available for Android 12 devices.
First up is a new Memories widget for Google Photos, something we first caught a glimpse of in last week’s preview. Although the connection to photos was pretty obvious, it was tough to tell precisely what it was bringing to the home screen. Well, wonder no longer — no matter which shape you select, the Memories widget brings all of those collections from the app right to your phone. With circles, squares, rectangles, and even X’s to choose between, all of those family photos and vacation slideshows can live outside of the app.
The second widget might be a little more niche, but it’s no less helpful. A new “Suggested files” tool is coming to Google Drive, making it easier than ever to locate your recent uploads and documents. This widget isn’t the X-shaped one we saw back in September; instead, it’s a searchable list of files, complete with links to specific content.
Like Google’s other recent widgets, this one is fully compatible with Material You, syncing whatever colors are currently displayed in the background. There’s also a shortcut for uploading new files directly to your cloud storage, which could come in handy pretty often, depending on your workflow.
Both of these widgets should be coming to users starting today, along with the rest of the shortcuts Google has teased over the last month or two. These seem to be server-side updates, so it may take a couple of days to appear for everyone.
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