Google: Yeah, we did use an undocumented API. So what?

Oh yes it does! Just turned off by default and not mentioned in the blurb!

It works, but I've not been able to get it to work well. I tried searching for my full name "Joel Ivory Johnson" and so far the closest it has come is "Julie Avery Johnson." It usually interprets it as "Shoreline Johnson."

You don't get it. Undocumented API's usually exist because things are still in flux in the background - Apple is still working on get stuff right. When Apple documents the API's, they make a commitment to support them and to not break them as stuff gets updated. If an 'avalanche' of people start using undocumented API's, then when Apple needs to change the way something works to support feature X correctly, or make things easier for developers - all those people's apps will crash - which is a terrible customer experience.

Look, Google is a big enough company that Apple is going to test their app when they update and make sure they don't break it. Google's willing to take that gamble, and also has enough engineers to throw at fixing any issues right away. But that's intractable for 10,000 other applications. Then the developers all piss and moan at 'evil' and 'inconsiderate' Apple for breaking them.

Using documented API's is part of creating good software. IMHO - unless they had permission from Apple - this is bad form on Google's part.