Google Ads App Gets New Features After 3 Months of No Updates

The Google Ads mobile app is getting updated with two new features to help advertisers monitor and improve campaign performance on the fly.

New features include:

• Custom notifications about performance and status changes.
• More data about fluctuations in campaign performance.

Here’s an overview of each of these updates.

Custom Notifications

Advertisers can now use the Google Ads mobile app to set custom notifications about things that are important to them.

For example, if an advertiser wants to stay on top of conversion volume during a seasonal sale, the app can be programmed to send a notification when conversion volume increases by a certain amount.

In this example provided by Google you can see how the app has been set to send a notification when conversion volume goes up by more than 10%.

To set a custom notification, first go to the Settings page and opt in to notifications if you haven’t already.

Then tap on custom notifications to set up your own alerts. These can be adjusted at any time.

Performance Insights

Performance insights are getting added to the Google Ads mobile app, which will help advertisers keep on top of their campaigns when they’re not at a computer.

This information is available in the Google Ads desktop interface, and now advertisers can access it on their phones.

In addition, the app will send real-time notifications when significant changes are detected in any of these newly added performance insights.

The notification will explain why the change occurred, and Google Ads may offer a recommendation to help resolve the issues.

These updates are now available in the latest version of the Google Ads mobile app on Android and iOS.

Long Time, No Updates

This update follows a three month gap of no updates to the Google Ads app. Google rarely lets any of its apps go longer than a month without at least a minor update, but that has not been the case lately.

Google’s suite of apps have gone so long without updates that iOS is warning users they’re using an out of date app.

Google is now telling users its apps are out of date (despite no updates being available)https://t.co/o7UXCzttfo pic.twitter.com/WXmAZ1Se4h

— Spencer Dailey (@SpencerDailey) February 10, 2021

Updates to Google’s apps have started to roll out over the past several days, but many are still three months out of date.

At the time of this writing apps like Google Chrome, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, and others are waiting for updates.

Google hasn’t commented on its lack of updates, though it’s speculated the reason could be due to Apple’s new App Store rules that were introduced in December.

Apple now requires app developers to self-report on the data it collects from users and how the data is being used.

The information provided by developers is used to create a privacy “nutrition label” that users can review before downloading an app.

For example, here’s the new privacy label for the Google Ads app:

Given that Google stopped updating its apps for several months after Apple introduced these mandatory labels, some think the company is trying to skirt Apple’s rules. Again, that’s purely speculation.

Google has recently gone on record saying it has no plans to develop alternative methods of tracking users.

If Google’s recent activity is anything to go by, more of its outdated apps may receive updates in the coming days or weeks.

Source: Google Ads Help