Google today updated its Gmail app designed for the iPhone and the iPad, introducing a new widget that can be added to the Today center alongside other widgets or to the Home Screen on an iPhone.
After updating, the Gmail widget can be added to the Home Screen by pressing and holding to enter jiggle mode and then tapping the "+" button. From there, scroll down and tap on Gmail to add the widget, using a finger to drag it to the appropriate spot.
The Gmail widget can be used to search within the Gmail app, compose a new email message, or view unread email messages. It provides shortcuts for these tasks only and does not list sensitive email information nor can it be customized with other functionality.
Saturday April 11, 2026 9:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
CarPlay Ultra...
As we wait for WWDC to kick off next Monday, Apple today announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards, recognizing apps and games for their innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement.
The 2025 Apple Design Award winners are listed below, with one app and one game selected per category:
Delight and Fun - CapWords (App) and Balatro (Game)
Innovation - Play (App) and PBJ -...
Saturday April 11, 2026 9:07 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the AirPods Max 2 received more attention, Apple also released a second pair of headphones last month: Nike Powerbeats Pro 2.
Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 are the same as the regular Powerbeats Pro 2, except they have a two-tone design consisting of black and Nike's signature Volt neon green-yellow color. The headphones were released on March 20 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and a ...
Tuesday March 17, 2026 10:39 am PDT by Juli Clover
Google is bringing Personal Intelligence to all Google Gemini users starting today, after testing the feature with its paid plans. Personal Intelligence allows Gemini AI to provide personalized responses based on information pulled from connected Google apps like Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, and more.
Personal Intelligence is expanding in the U.S. across AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app,...
Thursday March 19, 2026 1:03 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Google is developing a native Gemini app for the Mac, reports Bloomberg. Right now, Mac users who want to use Google's Gemini AI have to use a web browser, but that will change with a dedicated Mac app.
Google competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI have dedicated Mac apps for their chatbots, potentially making Claude and ChatGPT more convenient to use than Gemini.
Google shared an early...
Wednesday March 25, 2026 9:53 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple has full access to Gemini to customize the model for Siri and other AI features, reports The Information. Google gave Apple "complete access" to the Gemini model in its own data centers, and Apple can use the access for distillation, or creating smaller models for specific tasks. Apple is able to design models that are built to run on Apple devices without the need to connect to the...
Wow - great job on a useless widget - so instead of just viewing the app icon with unread counts, or just tapping the icon to open the app and getting the same functionality, we now have the option of taking up 8 icon spaces. Awesome work Google!
Widgets have potential and I hope Apple delivers it with the next iteration. Right now they are basically huge icons.
I want widgets to be contextual, interactive, clickable and able to perform the functions of the app from the main screen without taking me to it and adding one more step to the process.
Wow - great job on a useless widget - so instead of just viewing the app icon with unread counts, or just tapping the icon to open the app and getting the same functionality, we now have the option of taking up 8 icon spaces. Awesome work Google!
well to be fair, they are pretty limited by apples widget guidelines
I remember an article from a few years ago that said "You want the best Google experience? Buy an iPhone". Exactly pointing out that for some reason Google pays much more attention to its iPhone apps than to its Android apps.
The American market is dominated by iOS, and Apple users are also the most willing to pay for apps and services, I am not coming up with this, I actually heard about it in an App Development research/teaching group.
The rest of the world uses Android, but a large proportion of those users are not paying subscribers to any type of service Google offers, so... it makes sense.
