Google finally debuts on the Apple Watch with its News &Weather app. On Tuesday, Google updated its News & Weather app for iOS with “performance enhancements and stability improvements” and added support for Apple Watch.
A smart move from Google
The Apple Watch already has a host of third-party apps totaling around 3,500 shortly after its debut in April. Some of the most popular names such as Instagram, Twitter, Evernote and others have already announced their apps for the gadget. Google was the only missing name on the Apple Watch’s ecosystem until now.
With its app, one thing Google made very clear is that it is not ignoring iOS merely because it is competing with Android. Bringing an app onto iOS is encouraging as it suggests that Google might consider bringing in other new apps in the future. Also it’s a smart move from Google as now it will be able to access user data from iPhone owners and use it to push its advertising business.
Similar to other news apps
The News & Weather app provides news from 65,000 publications and is similar in appearance to Google News on the web with headlines grouped under Technology, Sports, Fashion, etc. Also users are given an option to customize the app with personalized news sections and view their local news and weather.
Google’s news app is similar to apps from other big names such as NPR, CNN, or The NYT, for instance, but on some occasions it may let you down. The Apple Watch allows the user to swipe and see various headlines on the small screen, which is very similar to the functionality of other news apps on the iOS platform.
With the app, a user will be able to see around 10-12 headlines that can be swapped horizontally. Also users can scroll down to see related images accompanying the story. However, there will be no full story or summarized version of the news in the Google app, unlike The New York Times’ app on the watch. Also the app does not support Handoff to allow a user to continue reading the story on the iPhone. The user can, however, save the news article to their Safari reading list by way of the Force Touch feature.
