Google today released an update for the Google Search iOS app that added numerous features that have been available in Android's Google Now suite for a while.
The iOS Google Search app with Google Now has long be en more than a simple app for searching the web, and now it's even closer to the full Google Now experience.
Today's Google Search update brings the iOS app up to version 3.1.0.
Chief among its improvements is the ability to initiate a Google search by saying the words, "OK Google" (on iPhone 4S and later), a much-hyped feature on Android.
OK Google, tell me more
But that's not all; the new Google Search for iOS app now features reminders and push notifications and new types of Google Now "cards," according to its App Store description.
The new cards include helpful slides with information concerning everything from event tickets and boarding passes to car rental reservations and train schedules.
The Google Search with Google Now app can notify users automatically when it's time to leave for an appointment, if a flight is running late, or when the last train home is leaving.
You can also tell the app verbally to remind you of things. It should notify you at the right time and/or place, and it's designed to understand these things intuitively.
Examples given are "Remind me to buy coffee beans at Starbucks" and "Remind me to check out the fair this weekend." The iOS Google Search app will now understand these requests and remind you when it detects you're at a coffee shop, or when the weekend arrives, respectively.
You can also press a "remind me" button from a Google search to be notified when new episodes of a show air, when your favorite musicians put out new albums, when actors you like star in new films, when certain politicians make headlines, an d more.
And it still does search
On top of all that, it seems actually searching using the iOS Google Search app is improved as well.
Google Search now reportedly features "a redesigned and simplified homepage," new gestures to interact with images, improved voiceover accessibility, and one-touch sign-in if you use other Google apps on your device.
Overall the new Google Search with Google Now app for iOS sounds like a big improvement.
But only time and testing will tell whether all of these impressive-sounding features function in practice for iOS users.
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