Google TV receives multi-user profile support, glanceable cards in ambient mode, and more

Google has announced a slew of new features for Google TV, its new software experience for Android TVs. The latest update brings real multi-user profile support to the software experience, along with new glanceable cards in ambient mode and more. Read on to learn all about the new features in the latest Google TV update.

Multi-user profile support

Google debuted the new Google TV software experience with the Chromecast with Google TV late last year. While the new experience gave users a more polished UI, it lacked one crucial feature — multi-user profile support. In March this year, Google rolled out a new Kids profile to the experience to give parents more control over the content available to their kids. However, the Kids profile didn’t address the problem users had with the lack of real multi-user support.

Google is now finally adding real multi-user profile support to Google TV, which will let several users create a personalized space with their Google account on the same TV. Thanks to the new feature, everyone in a home can now access personalized content recommendations, easy access to their watchlist, and tailored responses from the Google Assistant on the same TV. Google notes that Google TV will synch your downloaded apps and app login credentials across profiles, so you won’t have to start from scratch when setting up a new profile.

Glanceable cards in ambient mode

The new Google TV update also makes the ambient mode a bit more useful. Following the update, users will be able to see personalized information and recommendations at a glance in the ambient mode, along with their favorite memories from Google Photos.

As you can see in the attached image, the glanceable cards will appear when your TV is idle. These cards will show information like the latest game scores, the weather forecast, news, and more. In addition, the cards will also let you scroll through on-screen shortcuts to quickly start a slideshow of your photos or play your favorite music. These cards will disappear if you leave the TV idle for a long duration and automatically switch to your ambient mode’s photos or curated artwork. The latest Google TV update also brings Philo integration to the Live and For you tabs.

Multi-user profile support and glanceable cards in ambient mode will start rolling out to the Chromecast with Google TV and Google TVs from Sony and TCL soon. While the multi-user profiles feature will be available globally, ambient mode cards will initially be limited to the US. Philo integration will also be limited to the US.

Google has also told us that it will soon bring Google TV’s new remote control to the Google Home app for iOS and Android. For the unaware, the Google TV app recently received a new remote feature that lets you easily control your Android TV with your smartphone. If you haven’t tried it out yet, you can follow the steps highlighted in our tutorial to pair your Android TV with the Google TV remote.

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