Google Apps Updates Ep. 121: Google’s New Power Saver Mode Will Change Maps Forever

This is Google Apps updates roundup number 121. In this episode, I will show

number 121. In this episode, I will show you more than 36 new features in seven different Google apps. [music] So, make sure all your apps are up to date. And

let me show you what's new.

Let's start the episode by talking about the YouTube app. And here I'm going to show you three new changes. The first

change you will see when you open any of the videos, you will notice that this area is now more compact. Previously, we

used to have the channel name and the subscribe button in a separate line at the top, but now they are embedded in the carousel and you can only see the profile picture of the channel, not the

full name like before. Then next to it, you will see the subscribe button. After

that, we have the rest of the buttons as usual, but the share button is also smaller than before. So, the overall look is a lot more compact than the previous version. I also came across a

previous version. I also came across a new feature that's not commonly available and I only found in this very specific video. When you take a look

specific video. When you take a look here next to the time, you will see the chip that usually takes you to the chapters, but this one says in this video. When you tap on it, it opens that

video. When you tap on it, it opens that timeline where you can see the script and autoscrolling. But when you scroll

and autoscrolling. But when you scroll down a bit, you might see some suggested content to let you know more information about the discussed topics in this video. And when you tap on this card, it

video. And when you tap on this card, it will take you to a separate page where where you can learn more. In this case, they are talking about an Egyptian actor. And you see a description here

actor. And you see a description here and some suggested videos from YouTube.

And lastly, in the shorts, you will see smaller buttons with brand new icons that will make things easier if you're holding the phone with one hand. The

next app we have is YouTube Music. And

here I'm going to show you eight new changes. [music] Starting with the

changes. [music] Starting with the homepage, you will see multiple changes.

The first one is the redesigned header colors. They are getting this new

colors. They are getting this new glowing gradient colors at the top. And

when you take a look at the speed dial, you will see that the I'm feeling lucky button got replaced with a diceel like design. And every time you tap on it, it

design. And every time you tap on it, it will change the dice number. And here is how it animates. And it keeps playing random songs for you. Also, now you get

access to the 2025 music recap instead of going to the library than the profile picture like before, which will make things easier for you. Talking about the 2025 recap, it got a complete redesign

this year. When you open it, you will

this year. When you open it, you will see multiple categories like top tracks, your playlists, artists, and so on. In

addition to the summary, and when you start the recap, you will see brand new animations and the graphics that we've never seen before. That makes the recap

look a lot better. And here you have the ability to download as usual each image separately. And let's try to open some

separately. And let's try to open some of the individual categories. As you see here, you can also save to library in some situations. And when you go to the

some situations. And when you go to the summary, here is how it looks. So this

is the new design for the 2025 recap.

And when you scroll down a bit, you will see the musical photo album section, which will show you some photos inspired by the top tracks you listened to. And

then you have your recap playlists. And

then we have the YouTube music playlists. And they got redesigned

playlists. And they got redesigned thumbnails that match the recap animations and the graphics. Moving to

the now playing screen, you will see two new changes. First, the radio button is

new changes. First, the radio button is now called mix plus the like animation got updated. And here is how it looks.

got updated. And here is how it looks.

Now under the samples page, you will see all the buttons on the side are now bigger and using different icons. And

when you go to the search, when you take a look here at the history, you will see that all the artists I have in the history got this new ellipses button that will give you quick access to

things like shuffle, play, start, mix, share, subscribe, or remove from library. And lastly, under the library

library. And lastly, under the library page, you will see a brand new filter at the top called profiles. I'm not sure if it's new or not, but this is the first time for me to see it. The next app we have is Google Photos. And here I'm

going to show you 10 new [music] changes. Starting with the memories, you

changes. Starting with the memories, you will see multiple tweaks. The first one is the much bigger thumbnails when compared to the previous version. Plus,

Google started to use some new designs for the thumbnails. They are using material U shapes. And if the memory is related to the number of years, you will see this big number cutout in the memory

thumbnail with new fonts and colors. And

I think it looks amazing. Plus, we got the 2025 recap, same as YouTube Music, and it's stunning. It has a lot of graphics and animations with great music in the background. You can tap on the

share button, which will allow you to share it as a video. You can replace people or photos by using this menu. It

will show you the people. So you can replace or remove. And then you have the option to edit with cap cut. And

finally, you can save it to your library. But because I saved it already,

library. But because I saved it already, it says saved here at the bottom. And

and Google did something really nice this time. And instead of sharing the

this time. And instead of sharing the full recap with people, you have the ability to share certain sections. This

one says total photos in 2025, top people in 2025, top places, and finally highlights of 2025. So you can share

specific parts of the recap and instead of sharing the whole thing if you want.

Also keep in mind that you can access this recap from the collections page.

You will see it as a suggestion at the top right corner in this area. The add

to album overlay card also got updated and now you get more options like the ability to search your albums before adding. You have the ability to sort the

adding. You have the ability to sort the albums showing in the card with the last modified album title or most recent photo. In addition to the ability to

photo. In addition to the ability to create a new album and when you swipe up, you can scroll through all of them.

The photo editor also got some design tweaks. The first one is the squared

tweaks. The first one is the squared handles for the cropping instead of using the curved ones. And I think it makes more sense now. Plus, when you

select something in the photo at the top, you will see two buttons. One to

refine the selection like this and the other is to deselect whatever you selected. Now, let's talk about the

selected. Now, let's talk about the highlight video feature that got multiple changes. And the first one,

multiple changes. And the first one, when you go to the create tab and scroll all the way down, you will see a new section for the highlight video that includes multiple templates to choose

from. Here you can see the font used,

from. Here you can see the font used, the music, the duration, and number of photos. And you can hit the play button

photos. And you can hit the play button to get an idea about how the template looks. So, let's take a quick example.

looks. So, let's take a quick example.

So, this is one of the templates. And if

you like it, you can simply tap on it and then select the photos and videos you want and then hit next. It will

automatically create the highlight video for you and give you the option to edit everything exactly the same way as before. No

difference. And this is how it works. So

you can choose the template and then create your highlight video. Also, when

you tap on the plus button at the top right corner from the photos tab and then choose highlight video, now you will see two tabs at the top. One

dedicated for the new templates I just showed you and the other one called select content which will take you to the old highlight video page that we got used to. And lastly, when you choose any

used to. And lastly, when you choose any of the templates like this one for example, you will see a new button here at the bottom left corner called help me select with the AI star next to it. But

tapping on it doesn't do anything new.

It just takes you to the same old highlight video creation page. So I'm

not sure why this button exists. Now

let's talk about Google Maps. And here

I'm going to show you three new changes.

The first change is the new killer feature Google released with November 2025 Pixel Drop. The new power saving mode in Google Maps and it's only available on the Pixel 10 models. So

here is how it works. When you start the navigation to any place like this and then press on the power button, it will immediately take you to the power saving mode, everything is in black and white and you don't have any control over the

app. But once you tap the screen like

app. But once you tap the screen like this, it takes you back to the standard mode and you can switch between them like this. I tested this feature in real

like this. I tested this feature in real life and compared the battery consumption with the standard mode to give you an idea about how much battery you can save with this new feature. So,

let's take a look. I started a 43 minutes navigation session at 2:29 p.m.

with 80% battery remaining. Thankfully,

from my experience, there is no delay in the navigation and it updates my exact location as good as the standard mode.

You will also notice that the display refresh rate is lower than normal in this mode and that's why we have these horizontal lines moving on the screen because the camera's shutter speed is faster than the display refresh rate.

But you definitely don't see this with your naked eye, and I found the refresh rate to be good enough to follow along.

So, after a total of 43 minutes of navigation while having my phone connected to the car's Bluetooth to play some music, it consumed a total of 6% battery, which means 0.14%

per minute. Now, let's compare this

per minute. Now, let's compare this number to the standard mode. At 4:48

p.m., I started another navigation session for 28 minutes with 59% battery on the standard mode. This time I took 30 minutes to arrive, not 28. And the

phone consumed the same 6%, which means 0.2% consumption per minute. So when you do the math, you will see that the power saving mode consumes 8.4% per hour

versus 12% per hour for the standard mode, which is a difference of 3.6%.

But I think this number could be better because I tested the standard mode just 1 hour before the sunset. So the sun was not as harsh as the 2:30 p.m. time when

I tested the power saving mode. So the

display was not always on peak brightness like it did while testing the power saving mode. So that's it when it comes to the power saving mode. And the

second change is the new guides I started to see in the explore card while navigating certain places. You can see the source of each guide at the bottom left corner in a chip. And when you open

it, it will show you multiple places based on the area you are currently exploring. And here you can do multiple

exploring. And here you can do multiple things. You can share this guide with

things. You can share this guide with others. You can save the full guide as a

others. You can save the full guide as a list to your library. And when you go to the library, you will see it under the U tab. And as you see, I have it now. It's

tab. And as you see, I have it now. It's

called what to do near the Bourj Khalifa. And you can remove it at any

Khalifa. And you can remove it at any time if you want. Then you will see the photo of the place, a description, and the source link. You can also sort the

places by distance or recently edited or add any individual items to your library like this and choose the list you want to add it to. So this is how it works

and I think this is a really nice touch.

Last but not least, when I open the overview card of some malls, like Dubai Mall for example, and then scroll down, I started to see this new indoor map section with the expand arrows. Tapping

on it takes me back to the top and doesn't do anything different because when I search for Dubai Mall, I already get the indoors map immediately on the screen. So, I'm not sure why Google

screen. So, I'm not sure why Google added this section in the overview card.

Before jumping to the next chapter, let me show you the latest pack added to the wallpapers by in-depth tech reviews app.

I used most of them throughout the video to show you how they look in real life.

And by the way, you can download any of these wallpapers locally on device, which will allow you to apply the Android 16 wallpaper effects on them. If

you interested in my wallpapers, you will find the Google Play Store link in the description to download the app. And

now, let's get back to the video. The

next app we have is Google Chrome. And

here I'm going to show you three new changes. The first change is a visual

changes. The first change is a visual tweak. Now when you go to the tab

tweak. Now when you go to the tab switcher, if you have a tab group like this, when you give it a color using this color picker, the whole card background color matches your selection.

While previously it was only limited to the dot at the top left corner. The

second change is the search bar at the top is now docked. So it doesn't move when you scroll up and down. Lastly,

when you go to settings, then go to payment methods and scroll all the way down, you will see a new option here called loyalty cards. And the

description says, "Manage your loyalty cards in Google Wallet." When you tap on it, it just opens the wallet app. So,

I'm not sure if this new option will allow Google Chrome to suggest your loyalty cards while filling forms or this is just a quick shortcut to the wallet app. Next, Google app. And here

wallet app. Next, Google app. And here

I'm going to show you four new changes.

Let's [music] start with Circle to Search as it got three new changes. The

first one is the integration with the AI mode. So, for example, when you do a

mode. So, for example, when you do a search like this, previously we used to get a text box at the top, that will allow you to add certain modifications to your search, like looking for a

different color or a different variant.

But now, you can use the AI mode to ask anything about your search, not just adding some modifications. So for

example, I can ask about the release date of this phone and it will give me all the information I need using the AI mode as you see here, which will give

you a lot more flexibility. The second

change is the new scroll to translate feature. Previously to translate a page

feature. Previously to translate a page like this using circle to search, it used to only translate whatever you see currently on the screen. But now when you trigger the translate option, you

will see a new button called scroll and translate. Tapping on it will allow you

translate. Tapping on it will allow you to scroll the page. And you will notice here at the top that I have the screen sharing enabled. And when I start

sharing enabled. And when I start scrolling, it will take its time and then translate to my favorite language.

Also, I have a bubble here at the bottom of the screen that will allow me to stop the translation. Or I can tap on it to

the translation. Or I can tap on it to dock it to the side, but I cannot move it. It will always stick to this area.

it. It will always stick to this area.

And every time I start to scrolling, it will take its time and then translate the page. and you will see the glowing

the page. and you will see the glowing animation here around the edges of the screen. The third change is a visual

screen. The third change is a visual tweak. Now when you highlight text in

tweak. Now when you highlight text in circle to search, it will use Google colors as a background. As you see here, we have the green, the blue, and the red, which looks a lot better than

before. And the last change in this

before. And the last change in this chapter is related to the Google app itself. When you go to the activity tab,

itself. When you go to the activity tab, now you get access to the AI mode chat history from here. And you can also delete any individual items or view the

full history by tapping on the arrow.

And when you open the chat, you can immediately start the conversation again. The next app is Gemini. And here

again. The next app is Gemini. And here

I'm going to show you seven new changes.

Starting with the homepage, we got a much simpler and cleaner design with this new gray background color. Plus,

the suggestions are now a lot bigger.

The model selector at the bottom now got simplified. No more different names or

simplified. No more different names or confusion. All you get here is fast or

confusion. All you get here is fast or thinking with 3 Pro which makes things a lot easier. When it comes to the tools,

lot easier. When it comes to the tools, you will see this new visual layout option which is under Google apps because I'm already registered for Google apps. That's why I have it and

Google apps. That's why I have it and it's tagged with the Laps logo. I'm not

sure yet what it does exactly, but I will give it a try to see how it works.

When it comes to the side menu, we got this new my stuff section that will include all the documents, photos or videos you generated using AI. From

here, you can quickly open the photo, share it, copy it, or save it, and also jump to the chat if you want. And when

it comes to Gemini Live, now it captions your own words, not only Gemini words like before if you have the feature activated. And as you see, my words are

activated. And as you see, my words are labeled as you. And when you take a look at the release notes of Gemini, you will see that Google started to roll out the

Gemini 3 Pro model starting the 18th of November 2025. So most people do have

November 2025. So most people do have access to it already, even the free users. But there are differences in the

users. But there are differences in the usage limit. And if you want to know

usage limit. And if you want to know your limit, you can simply head over to this article and scroll down. You will

see a table that will explain the limits of everything. And I'm going to leave

of everything. And I'm going to leave this link in the description if you want to check it out. So that's pretty much it for today. These are all the new changes I wanted to show you in Google Apps. Please reach me out on social

Apps. Please reach me out on social media if you spotted any new feature to include in my future episodes. But for

now, thanks so much for watching and see you in the next