Watch out Siri, there's a new competitor in town. Google has brought Google Now to the iPhone and iPad by incorporating the feature into its search app for iOS devices.
The feature, which has been available to Android users for months, pulls together information from across Google services to give users a digital starting point. In a statement on Monday, Google said the service is now open to iPhone and iPad users through the company's free Google Search app.
To use Google Now, users will have to sign into their Google accounts to enable the app to access their personal information.
Google Now presents information on mobile devices when certain conditions are met, based on what can be determined from users' Web histories, location data and history, calendar data and other inputs. For example, the software can publish a notification advising the recipient to leave his or her current location for a restaurant reservation, based on Google's knowledge of real-time traffic data and a calendar entry of the reservation, according to the statement.
"Google Now is about giving you just the right information at just the right time," said Google engineer Andrea Huey in a blog post. "It can show you the day's weather as you get dressed in the morning, or alert you that there's heavy traffic between you and your butterfly-inducing date -- so you'd better leave now! It can also share news updates on a story you've been following, remind you to leave for the airport so you can make your flight and much more."
