While the news was announced over a month ago in the form of a promo video, it has come to reality only now. Users can benefit from Google Now on their iPhones and iPads after updating the Search app. As with all other Google apps, users can use Google Now for free.
Google Now for iOS – Not as powerful as on Android
If you’ve never used Google Now until today, then you might want some information about what it can do and how it works. As an Android user, I’ve always found Google Now to be very useful time and time again, and although I haven’t uses it at its full potential, it has surely helped me a lot. Google Now is great for getting information that you need, such as traffic, events, sports, appointments and many others, but due to the differences between the two platforms, Google Now for iOS won’t work exactly like it does on Android. Nevertheless, it will provide users will a lot of information. iOS users will have background location search, so they won’t have to wait for the app to acquire a location when they open it. The Google Now app for iOS will be able to sync to your cloud account, which includes Google Calendar and other services, but it will not sync with the local calendar or other third party calendar apps. Also, it will not be possible for users to open the app with a shortcut that is system-wide, like how Android users can, but will be available via the app shortcut.
Another missing feature are notifications, and the Google Now app will not be able to give push notifications on important events, but this feature is not as big of a drawback as some might think. Overall, this is a big step for Google, and a much awaited one for some users. Whether users will find Google Now better than Siri is not up for debate, but we like the idea of having Google’s top notch software on the powerful iPhone or iPad. This match made in heaven will bring joy to many. As we’ve seen, Google is expanding their grasp and making their software available on other platforms, and the next step will definitely be Windows 8. It was obvious that Google couldn’t afford to miss out on so much data from iOS users on an ongoing basis, and the introduction of Google Now for iOS shouldn’t come as a surprise at all. Users who want to use Google Now on their iOS devices can update the app from the Store or they can download it from here.
