Google’s search app gains 3D Touch support, Split View multitasking on iPad & more

Google 11.0 for iOS 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts iPhone 6s screenshot 001

The search monster Google on Friday issued an update to its mobile search application in the App Store, adding support for 3D Touch gestures on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and iOS 9’s new multitasking modes on select iPads, while improving search results for places and local businesses.

With 3D Touch, hard-pressing on the Google app’s icon on the Home screen brings up quick shortcuts for Search, Voice Search and Image Search features.

Running the Google app side by side with other apps in iOS 9’s Split View multitasking mode is supported on the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4.

If you don’t own any of these iPads, you can still take advantage of the app’s support for Slide Over multitasking, which should hero you look something up while sending a text or reading an article.

In addition to iPad multitasking and 3D Touch, the app conveniently shows holiday hours and busy hours information in search results for places and local businesses. As a bonus, you’ll even see a graph in results for stores and other places showing the busiest times of the day, so you can plan ahead and avoid the crowds.

Google 11.0 for iOS animation 001

Google 11.0 highlights:

Here’s what’s to look forward to in this edition of the app:

  • 3D touch integration on iPhone 6s devices— hard press on the app icon to bring up quick shortcuts for search, voice search, and image search.
  • Multitasking on iPad—use the Google app side-by-side with your other apps
  • Search results for places and local businesses now include holiday hours and info on the busiest times of the day to help you avoid the crowds.

Try saying “what time does the nearest mall close” or “show me Starbucks nearby” and tap on the result to see how busy it gets throughout the day.

Availability

Google’s mobile search app requires an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 8.0 or later. The app is localized in English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Grab the Google app for free in the App Store.