Skip to main content

Google wants to help you find new ebooks to read on Google Play Books

google play stream app books
Image used with permission by copyright holder
We’ve seen a ton of great music discovery features with the rise of music streaming, but why can’t we get some of the same features for ebooks? Well, as it turns out — we can.

Google has updated Play Books with a new feature called ‘Discover,’ which basically looks at your reading history and determines other books that you might enjoy reading. The feature is available in 75 countries for Android, iOS, and the web.

“Google Play Books is the world’s largest ebookstore and offers readers like you smart technology that caters to your lifestyle — where you can start reading a book on your tablet at night and pick up where you left off the next day from your smartphone, as well as easily browse, skim, highlight and make notes,” said Google in a blog post.

The feature is launching today on Play Books for Android, and will be coming to iOS in the near future, although a specific date hasn’t been given just yet.

Google also offers Weekly Highlights, which will give you some of the best stories from the week. Not only that, but Google is also launching Google Play Editorial, which is aimed at showing off original articles from a variety of different authors. These will include interviews, essays, and more.

Google hasn’t really paid as much attention to Play Books as some of the other Play services, but it’s still an excellent ebook store for those interested in ebooks, and its nice to see that it’s getting a few extra features.

Of course, if Discover doesn’t give you enough recommendations, you can always check out our 100 best free ebooks list.

Editors' Recommendations

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Google just announced 8 big Android updates. Here’s what’s new
A photo of many Android figurines on a white wall.

At Moblie World Congress (MWC ) 2024, Google is bringing a healthy bunch of new features to Android. In line with the AI push all across the industry, some notable AI-driven enhancements are on the table. There are also a handful of core Android features that sound practically amazing.
The first in line is Gemini. The generative AI chatbot recently got a standalone app for Android, and now it’s headed for the Google Messages app. Users can chat with Gemini directly in the messaging app and use its generative capabilities for a host of things, like drafting replies, refining a message, and more.

Another feature that was showcased a while ago is finally ready for prime time. Android Auto is gaining support for message summarization for standalone texts and group chats, and it can also suggest replies. With a single tap, users will also be able to drop a message, start a call, and share an estimated arrival time. The idea is to deploy AI for crucial tasks so that it can minimize distractions while driving.
Lookout, an accessibility-centric feature for users with vision challenges, is also getting meaningful AI love. On Android phones, Lookout will now read AI-generated captions and descriptions for media content. For now, the AI boost to Lookout and Messages is limited to the English language.

Read more
Google just announced Android 15. Here’s everything that’s new
The Android 15 logo on a smartphone.

Android fans, it's time to start your hype engines. Google just released the first developer preview for Android 15 — kicking off the release of the next big Android update.

This is just the first step in a months-long process of Android 15's rollout, which will see numerous developer previews and betas before the final release later this year. So, what's new, when is Android 15 officially releasing, and should you download it? Here's everything you need to know.
What's new in Android 15

Read more
Google is launching a powerful new AI app for your Android phone
Google Gemini app on Android.

Remember Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT? Well, it is now officially called Gemini. Also, all those fancy AI features that previously went by the name Duet AI have been folded under the Gemini branding. In case you haven’t been following up all the AI development flood, the name is derived from the multi-modal large language model of the same name.

To go with the renaming efforts, Google has launched a standalone Gemini app on Android. Moreover, the Gemini experience is also being made available to iPhone users within the Google app on iOS. But wait, there’s more.

Read more