Google has updated its eponymous voice-recognition search app with speed improvements the company claims will save users "a combined 6.5 million hours" this year.

"Each time you open the app or do a search, everything will load just a bit quicker," said Google VP Tamar Yehoshua in a blog post.

Google Search iOSNot only should the app feel faster overall, says Yehoshua, news articles that show up in searches should load almost immediately, thanks to wider adoption of the company's open source Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project.

Introduced in February, the project aimed to make pages using AMP load four times as fast and use 10 times less data than traditional web pages. AMP-optimized stories are indicated by a lightning bolt icon and show up in the top stories section of search results.

In addition, the app now includes video highlights in select Google Now cards for NBA and NHL games.

Google for iOS is a free download on the App Store for iPad and iPhone. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

LovingTeddy Avatar
LovingTeddy
89 months ago
Now... If there is anyway to complete replace Siri suggestion with Google now and replacing all Apple services with Google services, that would be cool... Would happy install Google Play Services on iOS devices...
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
usamaah Avatar
usamaah
89 months ago
They load even faster if you have an ad blocker on Safari.
I do have one on my iPad Air 2, loads faster than Safari without an ad blocker but these Amp pages are still faster.
[doublepost=1464787920][/doublepost]
They load even faster if you have an ad blocker on Safari.
So is it snappier...than Safari?
It occurs to me now people's prejudice to Google may be hampering their ability to understand what this is.

AMP is an open-source project designed to make the web faster for static data ('https://www.ampproject.org/docs/get_started/about-amp.html'). Google AMP Cache (which is a separate thing) then takes these files and preloads them on their servers so they can serve this reduced-size, browser-friendly HTML file even faster. Apple can host AMP files too, if it wanted. Anyone can.

Any browser that supports AMP will recognize that there is a faster version of the same content you care about, and be able to load the page faster. Soo this isn't a Chrome vs Safari argument, not really. Google simply added support for AMP in their Google Search app on iOS so now when you use it (or more correctly, when dumb people like me who don't realize that OMG I'm the product, use it) the special pages will have the AMP icon next to them and I can choose to load that page over another, and get content faster.

EDIT: Here's more information ('https://www.distilled.net/resources/how-do-accelerated-mobile-pages-amp-from-google-work/').
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
v0lume4 Avatar
v0lume4
89 months ago
Just for USA or ROW/UK?
Checking out some stores, pretty sure it's a global update.
If this were Apple, it'd be more like, "Available in select markets. Wider availability coming soon (years)." :p
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LovingTeddy Avatar
LovingTeddy
89 months ago
Just get an android phone and be done with it
I have bunch of Android phone. I like iOS better, but I prefer google services and Google Now
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zirel Avatar
Zirel
89 months ago
No, thank you.


I'm not giving away control to Google. They try everything to stop me using Safari (can havve ad blocking)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jdillings Avatar
jdillings
89 months ago
Now... If there is anyway to complete replace Siri suggestion with Google now and replacing all Apple services with Google services, that would be cool... Would happy install Google Play Services on iOS devices...
Just get an android phone and be done with it
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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