Google+: a mobile app with sense and soul

Sharing is deeply sensory. From cooking a favorite meal to getting together with friends, it's the smells and the stories and the smiles that make human connections so essential. With Google+ we want to extend these moments online, so it’s only right to focus on the most personal of personal computers: your mobile phone.

To be clear, we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive. Today’s new iPhone app is an important step in this direction—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google.

A feast for the eyes

Full-bleed photos and videos are cool. But you know what’s really cool? Content so immersive it remakes your mobile device into a rich carousel of beloved memories and breaking news. That’s the Google+ experience we aspire to, and today’s release helps us get closer:

• Whether you post photos or articles or text, we’re making ‘em look gooood
• We’re adding crisper fonts, larger profile pics and a friendlier homescreen
• We’re making the stream easier to scan, and easier on the eyes with overlays, gradients and other visual elements

A stream you can swim in

Looks alone aren't enough—you also need an app that's fast and fluid. Even a simple swipe gesture can inspire the same “wheeee!” as the bubble wands and ball pits we enjoy(ed) as kids. So today’s update pays special attention to fun and performance:

• Conversations fall into view as you move forward and backward in time
• Optical cues (like parallax) help the mind linger on individual posts
• Important actions like +1 now float atop the stream, making it easy to endorse all your favorites

The end result—we hope—is an app that brings you closer to the people you care about, and the stuff you’re into; an app with sense and soul. But please, give it a go and let us know what you think. The iPhone update is rolling out now to the App Store (version 2.0.0.5888), and the Android update is coming in a few weeks (with a few extra surprises).