Google has offered a few beta releases of its apps in the past, like the Google app and Google Maps, and now a couple more betas are available.
You can now sing up to beta test the Google Play Services and Gboard for Android apps. Doing so is pretty simple, requiring you to visit this page for Google Play Services and this one for Gboard and tapping the “Become a tester” button. You’ll then receive updates for the apps that you signed up for.
If you’d ever like to remove yourself from the beta, you can go back to those pages and tap the “Leave the program” link.
Beta apps can be a bit buggy compared to their stable release counterparts, so that’s something to keep in mind before you enroll in these betas. That said, I’ve been in a few Google app betas for a while now and can’t recall any big issues popping up, so you probably don’t have much to worry about if you’re thinking about signing up for the Google Play Services and Gboard betas. Plus, it’s always fun to get to try updates before the general public!
