Google Slides gets ongoing notification controls, Sheets gets better chart management in latest update

Google is constantly working to bring big improvements to its productivity applications on Android, and that’s been made pretty apparent over the past few months. Starting today, Google is bringing some more notable updates to its Slides and Sheets applications, which will make both apps much easier to use.

If you’ve ever used Google Slides and had a security code in place on your Android device, you’d know that unlocking your phone each time you need to advance your presentation can get extremely annoying after awhile. Now that won’t be a problem anymore. With the latest update, when you use Slides to present to a Chromecast device or a Google Hangout, a notification will stay on your phone’s screen – even when it’s locked. Once you click on the notification, you’ll get options to move forward or backward through your slides, or to exit your presentation entirely.

Also along with this update is the ability to easily switch to video when presenting to Hangouts in Slides for Android. All you need to do is tap the video camera icon at the top of your screen. You can pin other Hangout participants, too.

Sheets is getting some improvements as well. With the new update, you’ll be able to easily insert charts and change their type from within Sheets. For instance, if you’re trying to insert a bar chart from Explore, you’ll now be able to quickly change it to a column chart directly within the application. Take a look at the screenshot below for a better look at this new feature:

If you’re interested in grabbing the latest versions of Google Slides and Sheets, head to the Play Store links below for the downloads.