Apart from monthly security patches for Pixel phones, Google also rolls out frequent Play system updates for Android devices. These releases aren't strictly once-a-month, though, and it turns out we did not have to wait very long at all for the next one this time. Matter of fact, March 2023's release note of Google System Updates went public a couple of days ago, but the initial list of changes was rather tiny. The company has now updated the changelog to highlight a few additional changes in the latest update.
For the unaware, 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 the need to distribute a full-fledged OS update. As a result, it's possible to roll out immediate changes which can't wait until the next major Android release.
The most significant improvement that comes with the release is the new tap to pay animation denoting success when making a payment with Google Wallet. Google announced the feature at the end of last month, and it is now being seeded through Google Play services v08.23. Furthermore, Wallet users now have more granular control when it comes to excluding loyalty cards imported from Gmail.
Along with the aforementioned changes, the Google Play system update for March 2023 includes further improvements for the Play Store's automatic app installation feature for connected Android devices, optimizations for faster and more reliable download and installation, battery life tweaks, and more. Check out the full changelog reproduced below for a complete list of the changes:
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Google Play Store
- New Features to help you discover the Apps & Games you love.
- Optimizations allowing faster and more reliable download and installation.
- Continuous improvements to Play Protect to keep your device safe.
- Various performance optimizations, bug fixes and improvements to security, stability and accessibility.
- [Phone] Users will have the ability to automatically make apps that they are installing on Phones & Tablets, available on other connected Android devices such as Watch, TV and Chromebooks.
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Wallet
- [Phone] Wallet users can selectively exclude loyalty cards imported from Gmail.
- [Phone] New animations displayed after successful tap and pay transaction using Google Wallet.
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System Management
- [Auto] [TV] [Phone] [Wear OS] [PC] Updates to System Management, and Usability services that improve Battery Life, Device Storage, and Network Usage.
- [Auto] [TV] [Phone] [Wear OS] [PC] Updates to system management services that improve stability.
All the changes listed under the Google Play Store section in the section above will come bundled with the Play Store v34.8 build. For the rest, you’ll want to be on Google Play Services version 09.23, which should have begun rolling out as of March 8.