It’s standard practice for developers to interrupt app updates during the December holidays and resume in early January. This was the case with Google this year, but the lack of new iOS releases continued strangely for almost the entire month until app updates resumed yesterday and today.
The lack of updates comes at the beginning of the year in the speculation that Google will not update its iOS apps to avoid Apple’s App Privacy label. From December 8, developers will have to name their privacy practices and how they handle data directly in the App Store. However, this was not the case as TechCrunch pointed out how updates for two Google applications (Slides and Homework Helper Socratic) were released about a week after the deadline.
Google has twice – most recently yesterday – reiterated that it would add privacy labels to all of its applications as new versions are released. In fact, the company is adding revelations without app updates, with The Verge noting how the score was up to 12 offers until Tuesday.
As Google’s iOS apps are updated with new features or to fix bugs, you’ll see updates to the list of app pages that contain the new app’s privacy information. These labels represent the maximum categories of data that can be collected – that is, if you use every available feature and service in the app.
Google, January 12
However, apart from Google’s Apple privacy mandate, Google’s update shadows were strangely delayed in 2021. Earlier this month, he was a former Google employee. climbed on Twitter how Google “tends to go code-freezing in mid-December until the first full week of Jan (at least when I was there).” This practice ensures that services remain stable and that no updates are issued during the holiday period, as there may not be many engineers available to solve problems. Other iOS developers (large and small) have returned to their normal cadences, while Android updates resumed in early January.
It took almost three weeks before the first updates were released. Yesterday, the Google Fiber client was the first app to see an update since mid-December. Play Movies and TV followed today, with both ‘bug fixes and performance improvements’. Google Translate is the latest on Thursday with a larger version that allows users to “continuously translate someone who speaks another language in an instant.” The feature was first introduced on Android and is ideal for translating lectures and speeches.
Apps like Google (Search) and YouTube that previously saw weekly updates still need to be refreshed with Maps, Gmail, and Photos.
Another example of Google iOS app updates that do not run normally is Chrome. Chrome 88 for Mac / Windows / Linux and Android was released last Tuesday, but the version is yet to appear on iOS. Usually, Google’s iPhone and iPad browser are updated simultaneously (on a six-week cadence) with the other platforms. Delays in the past lasted one or two days, while the only notable exception was due to COVID-19 pushing back the release schedule.
| Desktop release | iOS update | Difference | |
| 76 | 30 July 2019 | 30 July 2019 | No |
| 77 | 10 September 2019 | 10 Sep 2019 | No |
| 78 | 22 Oct 2019 | 22 Oct 2019 | No |
| 79 | December 10, 2019 | December 10, 2019 | No |
| 80 | February 4, 2020 | 5 February 2020 | +1 |
| 81 | March 17, 2020 | 7 April 2020 | COVID + delay |
| 82 | Skip | ~ | ~ |
| 83 | 19 May 2020 | 21 May 2020 | +2 |
| 84 | 14 July 2020 | 14 July 2020 | No |
| 85 | 25 August 2020 | 25 August 2020 | No |
| 86 | 6 Oct 2020 | 30 Sep 2020 | -7 |
| 87 | 17 November 2020 | 18 November 2020 | +1 |
| 88 | 19 January 2021 | +9 |
For end users, these quiet updates are slowly coming to an end, while not missing the key features due to the lack of new versions. However, as the year intensifies and announcements about features begin, it will be interesting to see when the updates return to normal.
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