New Gorgeous Google+ App on iPhone First, Signals a Change of Priorities

In an effort to keep Google+ fresh, Google has now introduced a major update to the iPhone app, which has been rather neglected and criticized so far. With Google+ for iPhone 2.0, Google is starting from scratch with a design that's meant to be a lot more immersive than before.

"We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive. Today’s new iPhone app is an important step in this direction—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google," Google+ lead Vic Gundotra writes.

The new app seems to be very visual, photos and videos take up the entire screen and are always emphasized. Even profile and cover photos look better than ever.

There are even new, finer fonts, the homescreen and the streams have been revamped, again with an emphasis on clean, elegant looks, and, of course, readability.

Google boasts that the app is faster and more intuitive to use than before, as well, but that's for users to decide once they've updated. Overall, it seems like a solid update and the new Google+ app is now right up there with the best apps on the iPhone.

It's not just the app that's interesting though, it's also the fact that Google chose to debut it on the iPhone first, the Android version won't be available for a few more weeks, though Google says it's got some surprises in store for it.

Android users have always been first to get updates and the Google+ app has always been better on Android.

Google seems to have realized that propping up Android won't do Google+ any favors and that it needs a great mobile app on iOS if it ever wants Google+ to grow beyond being a "social layer" that's more annoying than useful.

It may never be able to compete with Facebook on the desktop, but the mobile space is still up for grabs, given that a photo sharing app can go from nothing to tens of millions of users in less than two years.