Key Takeaways
- The Google app for Android may soon offer a bottom bar with options to share, save, and access webpage insights.
- Three variations of the new bottom bar layout have surfaced, suggesting that Google may not have finalized the design yet.
- These visual changes have been in development for a few months as part of Chrome Custom Tabs.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the Google app for Android experimenting with some design changes, such as removing the search option from the bottom bar. In June, a well-known name in the Chrome community, Leopeva64, revealed that Chrome Custom Tabs, which powers the Google app’s web browsing experience, could get a bottom bar with dedicated options to share, save, or access webpage insights. Some new development on this front indicates that Google is not done experimenting with this particular bottom bar.
An APK teardown of the Google app (v15.34.32.28) by Android Authority has revealed three variations of this new bottom bar within the app’s built-in browser. The first image in the gallery below depicts the default option, while the remaining two were activated manually, the site reports. This aligns with Leopeva64’s June revelation, highlighting the same bottom bar layout within the Google app’s browser.
The arrangement of the bottom bar icons in the second image — placing the save and share icons to the right while keeping the page insights icon on the left — is not new either and was one of the possible layouts revealed back in June. The third screenshot is interesting, though, as it removes the page insights icon altogether and only keeps the save and share options within the Google app’s browsing experience.
Google hasn’t made up its mind yet
Currently, the browser within the Google app has no bottom bar. So it will be interesting to see how the users respond when this change goes live, as it could take up some screen space while viewing a webpage. But as Android Authority notes, this could be Google’s way of providing some consistency in design, especially considering the changes it is testing for the app’s main bottom bar. Since three different versions of the bottom bar are being tested, it’s likely that Google is still some distance away from settling on the final design.
Elsewhere on the Google app, users can soon expect an updated look for shortcuts, which now consume less space on the home page. This will be achieved by removing the accompanying text and reducing the size of the shortcuts. However, this feature was spotted in the beta version of the Google app, so there’s no word on when it will be ready for the public.