Google announces ‘Essentials’ app, for all its services on Windows PCs

Google Essentials

Google has unveiled a new application named ‘Essentials,’ which is designed to bundle some of its core services like Google Photos, Google Drive, and Google Messages. It is a part of Google’s broader effort to bring its ecosystem, including Google Play Games, to more Windows users. This service will also centralize your Google account information and saved data such as documents, photos from Drive, or saved game titles from Google Play Games.

Google’s ‘Essentials’ app: Key details

Google through a new blog post, announced that “You can open Google Essentials right from the start menu and easily switch between your phone and laptop." Currently, it will be only available on HP-branded laptops, including models like the Spectre, Envy, Pavilion, OMEN, and Victus, with support for more laptop manufacturers and Windows PCs coming in at a later date.

With the ‘Essentials’ app service, Google has also confirmed that it will provide cloud storage of up to 100GB for free to a few eligible users for two months. The app will also offer shortcuts to Google Workspace service apps, including Google Docs, Drive, and Calendar.

For gamers, the company added that with the help of Google Play Games service, the ‘Essentials’ app will allow Windows users to play smartphone games on their PCs and enable them to sync their in-game progress. This feature will let players pick up where they left off on their Android smartphones or vice versa.

However, Google has now provided any details on how the app UI will look or a download link to the service. Hence, we may have to wait for some weeks to access this service on our Windows PCs.