Google App For iOS Update Makes It 'Faster Every Step Of The Way'

Google wants all you iPhone and iPad users to know something: the Google app for your devices is faster than ever. Loading times have been slashed. New features have been added. It all, Google proclaims, is available now to help save you precious minutes. You may not notice the speed differences, Google says, but rest assured that they're there and they're saving the collective lot of Google iOS mobile users 6.5 million hours throughout the rest of 2016.

Most notably, Google app for iOS now supports Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which are news articles from a bunch of different publishers that are optimized to load instantly when opened (a sort of competitive hat tip toward Facebook's Instant Articles, if you will). You'll know if an article is an AMP article because of the word "AMP" and a lightning bolt next to it. You'll find them in the "Top Stories" section.

If you're a sports fan (yes, that includes the upcoming Olympics), you'll now be able to watch highlights from your favorite teams straight from Google Now cards. Tap the sports highlight card when it shows up, hit 'Play' and you're be able to watch it, no app toggling necessary.

And finally, of course, everything is faster. Google says everything you do in the app, including searches, are 'just a bit quicker' than before. The time savings is small on the individual side of things, but of course, no one lives in a vacuum and collectively speaking, Google's iOS users will see millions of hours shaved off their Google search time.

SOURCE: Google Search Blog