Google founder Larry Page recently announced a huge change to one of the world’s biggest tech companies, restructuring Google as a subsidiary of a new holding company called “Alphabet." While this won’t really change how Google operates from the user end, it’s making a big splash in the tech world.
In light of this news, let’s take a look at some incredible free apps Google offers for iPhone:
The Google App
Google’s flagship app for iPhone brings some of the features Android users love to iOS. It includes “Ok Google” dictation capabilities that lets you search the web with your voice. The app also includes cards with helpful information like weather, traffic, sports scores and much more.
YouTube
Youtube is a must-have for iPhone users. It’s much easier to use than youtube.com in a web browser. It used to be included with iOS but now it must be downloaded from the App store. A cool feature of the YouTube app is the abililty to create video queues on the fly. This way, you can build a series of videos to be watched in order for your viewing and entertainment pleasure.
Google Maps
Google Maps is a great alternative to the built-in Apple Maps app. It includes street view, detailed business information and voice-guided GPS for driving, biking, walking and transit. One advantage Google Maps has over Apple Maps is its accurate live traffic conditions and automated rereouting.
Chrome Web Browser
If you’re familiar with Google’s Chrome Web Browser on the desktop, you might want to give the mobile version a try. The only downside to using Chrome over Safari in iOS is that all links from other apps automatically open in Safari.
Google Translate
Google recently bought an app called WordLens that performs real-time translation using your iPhone’s camera integrated into the already powerful Google Translate app. Simply choose the language you’d like to translate to, point your iPhone at the text and you’ll see the translation in real time on the screen. It’ll even attempt to match the color and font of the original sign and text.
Google Docs
Google Docs makes it easy to edit and collaborate on documents from anywhere in real time. Google has an app for Docs, Sheets (spreadsheets) and Slides (presentations). It’s a simple alternative to Microsoft Office and Apple’s iWork suite.
Google Drive
Google Drive gives you 15GB of free cloud storage with your Google account, with the ability to purchase more. It’s very similar to Dropbox, iCloud Drive and OneDrive.
Snapseed
Snapseed is an incredibly powerful photo editor for iPhone, featuring professional-grade editing features to make your pictures better.
Google Photos
Google Photos recently launched as a free storage solution for photos on the go. Check out our full comparison of Google Photos to iCloud Photo Library here.