if you're using pixelify or any other modules like that, remove it immediately.
if you're on pe or other roms that spoof any pixel, uninstall google photos for the time being.

this is a screenshot from someone using pixel experience 12 getting their google account disabled. i recommend playing it safe and removing it until further notice

Hope this New Year will bring bundles of joy and good luck in your life.

Happy Chinese New Year, get enough courage as it's the year of Tiger.

#News #Photos #Pixel #Pixel3
Google Photos unlimited original quality backup exclusively available on Pixel 1, as Pixel 3 loses its perk today
When Google first introduced their first ever Pixel, they show it out by bringing in some special perks to the phone, one of it being Google Photos unlimited original quality backup, at the time other Android devices can only backup in compressed quality for free, but that doesn't seem to be a big deal if we compared it to today's situation.

Since the Pixel 3a, Google no longer offered original quality backup for free, instead they only advertised the phone will only get unlimited backup in high (Storage Saver) quality for free, all the way until the release of Pixel 5. As of June 2021, they ended the perk of unlimited backup in high quality for all other Android phones. Pixel 5a and later on, we saw Google just stopped offering unlimited backup for Google Photos,

The release of Pixel 2 & Pixel 3 has some special condition with the perk though. Pixel 2 once used to have unlimited original quality until January 16, 2021. As of today, Pixel 3 is also losing the perk as it reached the expiration data of January 31, 2022, leaving only the first generation Pixel to continue enjoying the perk, while Pixel 2~5 continue to enjoy a cut down perk of unlimited backup in high quality.

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#News
WhatsApp might get limited amount of Google Drive storage backup
WaBetaInfo

More than 2 billions people around the world are using WhatsApp to communicate with their friends, classmates, employees... you name it. WhatsApp doesn't store any of your message content on their servers, so if you want all your old messages to appear on your newly switched device, you will need to backup and restore it. WhatsApp have partnered with Google and Apple to backup messages over in cloud storage, at first only Apple limited the storage amount you can backup, but it seems like Google could be taking the same approach soon.

As spotted by WaBetaInfo, in a teardown of the WhatsApp for Android application, there is strings which mentioned about the Google Drive changes. The warning message will tell users how many storage are left for backing up their WhatsApp messages and medias. It is believed that Google might prepared 2GB free storage for this, but this isn't confirmed yet, so take it as a grain of salt.

#Workspace #Gmail
Gmail desktop web overhaul redesign is arriving soon
Google Workspace Updates

Announced back in June 2021, Google is ready to release the new experience of Gmail web version to the public starting next week.

Google said that this new redesign will make it easier to switch between services in one place. On the left sidebar, it will features Mail, Chats, Space and Meet section, with Material You alike pill-shaped design. The whole page is using blue accent color instead of red, with UI elements getting rounded corners.The column next to it shows stuff that are specific to the service, like the Mail section will show "the full array of Mail and Label options." You will also get results of email and chat with the top search bar.

The new experience of Gmail will start rolling out in February 8, later become the default experience for everyone in April, and lastly the old experience will be deprecated by Q2 2022. This is rolling out to most Workspace tier except Workspace Essentials.

#Pixel4a
Google Pixel 4a no longer selling in Google Store
9To5Google

Pixel 4a is made available in a lot of regions, including India, which is the latest Pixel available in the region officially. Just today, Google has removed Pixel 4a from their store listing.

Google didn't stop selling it after the Pixel 5a launch, as you might know, it is only selling officially in Japan and US. The Pixel 4a is selling for only $349 in the US, and for this price, you're getting superb camera and other Pixel goodies. It's out of stock in the region for months, and Google hinted users that Pixel 5a with 5G is available before they removed the product page.

Pixel 4a comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G, 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. It also comes with 5.8' AMOLED display, and it is compact in size. If you are the kind of person who don't care too much about gaming, the phone is actually a pretty good deal. With that being said, you can still buy the phone via trusted third-party sellers.

#Updates #Android #GooglePlay
Google Play System Update Changes: February 2022

UPDATE: MMS messages backup support, Pay improvements and update for managing child devices

In case you missed it, Google has started to list out changes of Google Play system update back a month ago or two. Here we have summarised for you what's new and fixed in this month's update, and we will be doing it every month whenever Google do provide information about it.

Updated
Google Play services: v22.06.02 (February 11)
Google Play Store: v29.2 (February 10)

Critical Fixes
• [Phone] Bug fixes for device connectivity, developer services, safety & emergency, system management & diagnostics and utilities related services.

Account Management
• [Phone, Tablet] Updates a child's settings experience on supervised Android devices (under ‘Settings > Google > Parental controls') to include a read-only view of account settings and content restrictions for Google services such as Google Play, Search, Chrome and Assistant.

Google Play Store
• Improvements to Play-as-you-download feature to let gamers start playing mobile games while the app download continues to reduce waiting times.
• New Features to help you discover the Apps & Games you love.
• Optimizations allowing faster and more reliable download and installation.
• New features to the Play Pass and Play Points programs.
• Enhancements to Google Play Billing.
• Continuous improvements to Play Protect to keep your device safe.
Various performance optimizations, bug fixes and improvements to security, stability and accessibility.

Utilities
• [Phone] Users can have the ability to back up MMS messages on their devices.

Wallet
• [Phone] Users can view the Google Pay balance on their card art.
• [Phone] Users can add cards from their mobile bank apps to to their wallet for in-store and online payments.
• [Phone, Wear OS] Users can view a step by step guide on how to pay contactless with your device.
• [Phone] Users can view digital COVID-19 certificates on recently unlocked device.

System Management
• Updates to system management services that improve device connectivity, network usage, stability, security and updatability.

Developer Services
• New developer features for Google and third party app developers to support ads, accessibility, analytics & diagnostics and machine learning & AI related processes in their apps.

Source:
Support Page

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#Apps #Messages
Google Messages now support showing iMessage reaction
Droid-Life

Earlier we knew that Google is going to bring proper support of iMessage reaction into their Messages app, and the feature is finally going live for the majority people out there.

Some of the reactions will look different on both side, but still they give similar meaning, so not really a big deal here. For now, users on the Android side can only view the reaction, there isn't a way to react back to iOS. Google had wanted to help solve this issue, but Apple doesn't seem to have any plan to take the action.

The iMessage reaction support is currently live on the beta version of Google Messages app, we could see stable version receiving the feature soon.

Download (beta):
Play Store | APKMirror

#One
Google One VPN is made available on iPhone and iPad, Android devices gain new features
Google Blog

The VPN service by Google is now arriving on Apple iPhone and iPad devices, and more features have arrive on Android devices.

Google One VPN requires users to have 2TB tier of Google One subnoscription or higher, and also living in one of the 18 countries that are eligible to use the service: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Android users are also getting new features, those are Safe Disconnect, App Bypass, and snooze. Safe Connect will ensure that your phone internet connection is only used while the VPN is enabled. App Bypass will let users choose apps to use the standard connection while VPN is activated. Lastly, the Snooze feature will pause the VPN temporarily but without disabling it.

#Alphabet
Alphabet reports Q4 2021 revenue of more than $75 billion, Pixel phones break new high 'quarterly sales record'
Alphabet

Alphabet announced they managed to earn $75.32 billion in Q4 2021, ranged from October to December 2021.

No suprise, Search still accounted for the majority of the revenue, brining in more than $43.3 billion of the earning. Meanwhile, YouTube ad revenue has recorded an earning of $8.63 billion. Google other revenue reported $8.16 billion, that part included revenue of Pixel phone, hardware, Play Store and many other Google services.

Pixel 6 series seems to be reporting a great sale records for Google, even though it faced many issues in the first few months, said CEO Sundar Pichai:
"In Q4, we set all all-time quarterly sales record for Pixel. This came in spite of an extremely challenging supply-chain environment. The response from Pixel 6 from our customers and carrier partners was incredibly positive. And AI is making Pixel even more helpful..."

#Google
Google adds clear mention of National Domestic Violence contact method in Search results
Google Blog

If you've ever thought that you are facing domestic violence (which we hope you don't), searching up for it on Google will show you contact method to the National Domestic Violence if you're in the US.

Google has managed to work with the hotline which operates 24/7 and they are able to "provide quicker access to domestic violence information." The experience is live for those who are currently in the US and will see options to call, message via SMS, have live chat with real person, and lastly the official site of the hotline.