Search giant Google has introduced three new features to the Google app on iPhone and iPad to help you search for more information without interrupting what you are doing.
The Google app for iOS now supports an iMessage extension to help you search and share GIFs, restaurants and videos, whenever you are messaging a friend. To do so, simply tap on the icon for “Food” or “Nearby” to share your favourite locations, or perform a search and share a card directly into the conversation.
Also, if you want to know about a restaurant before sharing it with friends, a tap on the restaurant card will now take you to the Google Search page, where you can look up the busiest times, as well as menus and reviews. Switch to GIF Search mode, and you can find and share a “happy birthday” GIF.
If you already have the Google app on your device, no additional installation is required. Just open iMessage, tap the iMessage apps drawer, and tap on Google app icon.
Last year, Google added a new way to discover related content while browsing in the Google app for iOS. Now the company is bringing that capability to any browser on your iPhone, including Safari.
If you share a webpage with Google, it will show you suggestions for related content so you can learn more about the topic – without the need to type anything new into the search box.
If you are on iOS 11, you can now drag and drop to quickly and easily move text, images and links to and from the Google app. If you are reading an article on the Google app, tap and hold to pick up the link and drag it into iMessage to share with a friend, or into Notes to save for later.
Support for the iMessage extension is only available to US users, but will be expanded to more languages and locales soon, the company said in a blog post.
To try these new search features, make sure you have the latest version of the Google app.