Safer Internet Day is possibly the most appropriate time for Google to reveal its plans for improving user protections across several services, starting with high-risk users. It will be teaming up with various organizations ahead of the 2022 US midterms to expand protections for users it determines to be at greater risk. Said organizations include Veterans Campaign, Women’s Public Leadership Network, LGBTQ Victory Institute, Latino Victory, and more. Along with improving high-risk user protections, Google will also be rolling out “account-level enhanced safe browsing” sometime in March 2022. The opt-in feature will be accessible through account settings or will appear the next time you perform a Security Checkup, though Google doesn’t specify exactly what it will do. Beyond that, Google Fi phone plans will allow you to share your location with family members in real-time (at no added cost) from the Google Fi app, which will be available “soon.” Finally, Google One’s VPN, which was previously only available to Android users, has begun to roll out for iOS devices. As with Android users, if you want to use the VPN, you’ll need to sign up for Google One’s 2TB Premium Plan ($9.99 per month or $99.99 per year). You’ll also need to go through the iOS Google One app to set it up. Aside from the expansion of Google One’s VPN to iOS, which has already begun rolling out, there are no specific dates for any of Google’s other planned changes just yet.
