Google tries hard to update its suite of apps to match the ever-evolving Material You design principles. Because of the sheer number of apps, some of them only receive updates sporadically, and that’s something we can say for the Google News app. However, the latest update to the app adds two new widgets, so you have three to choose from in total.
Google recently announced the latest June Android feature drop, not to be conflated with the Pixel-exclusive Pixel Feature Drop. The former includes new widgets for three Google apps. We already saw the main Google app’s widget to track stock prices which has since been hidden, and the Google TV app is also picking up a new one to find recommended shows easily. The third is this recent addition to the Google News app.
Version 5.82 of the Google News app includes two new widgets with Material You design, as spotted in development by Nail Sadykov of the Google News Telegram group. The first, called a Quick View widget, takes up a 2×2 space on the home screen and shows you one news headline at a time. The widget also has a Full Coverage button to open the entire news article if the headline interests you.
The second Material You Google News widget hogs a larger 4×3 spot on your home screen, and can stretch out wider. True to its name List View, it shows two headlines at a time, each in its own card. You can tap any story to read it, or scroll down in the widget to see other headlines. It loads a finite number of headlines at a time, and you’ll see a More news for you button at the end of the list. Tapping the button will open up the Google News app in the For you tab.
These two new widgets have been added alongside the sole 4×2 widget included in older versions of Google News, in which you had to use arrow keys in the lower right corner to cycle through the headlines. Interestingly, you can resize the smaller Quick View widget, and making it any taller than its original size will transform it into a List View widget, complete with the More news for you button.
Version 5.82 is now rolling out as an update through the Google Play Store. You can wait for the new widgets to show up if auto-updates are switched on, or you can try sideloading the new version from APKMirror.
