In addition to monthly security patches for Pixel phones, Google also regularly rolls out Play system updates for Android devices. However, these releases aren’t strictly once a month, and it turns out we didn’t have to wait long at all for the next one this time around. In fact, Google System Updates’ March 2023 release note was made public a few days ago, but the initial list of changes was rather small. The company has now updated the changelog to highlight some additional changes in the latest update.
For those who don’t know, Google Play system updates add features and quality of life changes to phones, tablets, Wear OS watches, Android TV, and other Google-certified Android devices without requiring a full OS update. are distributed. As a result, it’s possible to roll out immediate changes that can’t wait for the next major Android release.
The main improvement that comes with the release is the new tap to pay animation that indicates success when making a payment with Google Wallet. Google announced the feature late last month and it is now seeded via Google Play Services v08.23. Plus, Wallet users now have more granular control when it comes to excluding loyalty cards imported from Gmail.
In addition to the changes mentioned above, the March 2023 Google Play system update includes further improvements to the Play Store’s automatic app install feature for connected Android devices, optimizations for faster and more reliable download and installation, battery life tweaks, and more. Check out the full changelog provided below for a full list of the changes:
- Google Play Store
- New features to help you discover your favorite apps and games.
- Optimizations that allow faster and more reliable download and installation.
- Continuous improvements to Play Protect to keep your device safe.
- Various performance optimizations, bug fixes, and security, stability, and accessibility improvements.
- [Phone] Users have the option to automatically make apps they install on phones and tablets available on other connected Android devices such as Watch, TV and Chromebooks.
- Wallet
- [Phone] Wallet users can selectively exclude loyalty cards imported from Gmail.
- [Phone] New animations that appear after a successful tap-and-pay transaction with Google Wallet.
- System management
- [Auto] [TV] [Phone] [Wear OS] [PC] System management and usability services updates that improve battery life, device storage, and network usage.
- [Auto] [TV] [Phone] [Wear OS] [PC] Updates to system management services that improve stability.
All changes mentioned in the Google Play Store section in the section above will be bundled with the Play Store v34.8 build. Otherwise, you’ll want to use Google Play Services version 09.23, which should be rolling out from March 8.
Source: Support page for Google System Updates