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The portfolio of Pixel-exclusive apps grew in 2025 in a trend that will only continue as Google works to differentiate its experience. Notably, availability was not limited to just new devices.
Journal is Google’s new “app” for 2025. It launched on the Pixel 10 series before coming to the Pixel 8 and 9 a few months later. It follows Apple introducing a Journal app for iOS in 2023.
The core functionality of letting you write about what’s happening in your life is pretty straightforward, with Google opening the app to the journaling screen for immediate text entry being notable. Entries can have images, videos, Health Connect activity, and locations.
AI is leveraged to provide topic suggestions on what to write about based on past entries. It’s also used to provide “Insights” about patterns and progress in a dedicated tab.
Design-wise, there are a lot of Material 3 Expressive flourishes, though the tall bottom bar is outdated.
Pixel VIPs was introduced as a Feature Drop in June, but really deserved to launch alongside a new device, if not the flagships. It replaces the Contacts widget, with a tap bringing up a sheet over your homescreen that shows your last sent message and call, as well as a feed of other relevant details.
My Pixel is technically an update to the existing Pixel Tips app, but it’s a significant enough expansion to effectively be “new.” It starts with a custom icon that reflects your device in a blue-purple palette that might be the new standard for Pixel apps.
The app is for getting tips, support, and shopping. Bringing everything together is better than having users go to store.google.com or support.google.com through a browser. Overall, it evokes the idea that there’s a Pixel ecosystem of devices.
Built with M3 Expressive, there’s a tall bottom bar that somewhat suggests the decision to go short was made at the last minute.
Of all the Material 3 Expressive redesigns here, I do think Recorder got the biggest overhaul in 2025. The clear goal was simplifying the app after years of adding new features. The homepage has a new tall search bar, with the major changes starting on the playback screen. Instead of the top bar featuring four buttons plus the three-dot menu, it’s now just favorites and the overflow.
Those actions, along with seven other options in the overflow, have been moved to a fullscreen sheet that features M3E containerization and other recording details at the top. The new playback screen is indeed simpler as a result, but you have to go to the sheet for everything. The live recording UI has been similarly updated.
As a relatively casual user of the app that only really records and listens back to the tape, the decision to pick favorites as the displayed action over search irks me. Otherwise, it is a nice modernization that addresses how much the app has grown since the Pixel 4 launch.
Recorder also introduced a “Create music” feature this year that tries to expand the app outside of productivity use cases, as well as NotebookLM integration that lets you upload transcripts.
Pixel Studio hit version 2.0 this year and exited “Preview.” The big update is an image editor with AI tools that replace the existing Markup screenshot experience. Besides Crop, Draw, Highlight, and Caption, you have a sticker creator and eraser. You then have the prompt-based ability to add and replace objects.
This editor can be used with any image and joins the app’s original image generation capabilities, which got an update to Imagen 4 but is otherwise unchanged.
Weather got M3 Expressive tweaks that made the homepage cards much larger at the expense of information density. I’ve adjusted to this change a few months later, while the actual city view is mostly the same. However, the last update of the year annoyingly removed the edge-to-edge design where cards appear underneath the system gesture navigation pill.
Meanwhile, Pixel Weather finally gained native homescreen widgets in what’s hopefully a step towards more options in the future. A bigger update earlier in the year made it so that searching for cities does not automatically add them to your saved list, while the pollen tracker came to the US.
Finally, Weather came to the Pixel Watch with Wear OS 6 that notably brings over the full 10-day forecast.
Pixel Camera: Button tweaks with the main Settings list benefiting from M3E containers and a general reorganization.
Magnifier: Real-time text search and foldable support (finally).
Pixel Buds: Updated Equalizer interface.
Screenshots: Read aloud, straightforward M3E tweaks, and NotebookLM + collection suggestions.
Thermometer: No major updates or M3E, with Google asking owners whether they use it.
Pixel Watch: M3E updates.
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The Pixel is the smaller of two smartphones desi…
Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com
