Meet the new Google Translate widgets for Android

Properly executed, a good widget can really change the way you use an app, hitting you up with the information you need at a glance, and connecting you with the features you’re likely to use most. At least, that’s the best-case scenario, but other widgets are a bit more difficult to appreciate. We’re still wondering whether or not this latest batch is going to fall into that latter group, as Google Translate picks up a set of new Android widgets.

We’ve been tracking Google’s work on new widgets for Translate since last month, when we first spotted devs prepping a set of five. That initial group basically just acted as shortcuts — with a tap you could open up Translate and jump immediately to using voice input, translating text from your clipboard, or using your phone’s camera. What we saw then was odd for a couple reasons, both because these were pretty basic, limited-use widgets, and Google implemented them as an unusual size, taking up more home screen space than they needed to.

Earlier this month we identified work on a sixth new Translate widget, this one to initiate a translation session between two languages. That one actually sounded halfway useful. And now, with Google’s version 10.9.52.883465979.9-release update hitting devices, we’re finally starting to see all six of these finally become available to the public.

Right away, we see one reason to be happy: The first group of five is now properly implemented as 1×1 tiles, so they fit nicely on your home screen without needing to reposition other icons. We’re still not sure we needed five separate widgets for all of these options, but they’re now much less disruptive.

While it’s nice to have these arrive, our attention is already pivoting to what’s coming up next, and in this update we’ve also spotted some early work on a new menu for Translate settings.

Here, the app could implement an internal version of the notification options we currently have to configure through the app info screen. We’re not seeing any functional changes here — just a new way to get at the settings. For now, this isn’t yet user-facing just yet, it’s something that Translate could introduce in a future update.