The Google app could learn a trick from Apple’s Spotlight Search with device setting shortcuts

Summary

• The Google app on Android could get a huge enhancement in a future update.
• In a recent beta, a new universal search feature was discovered as a developer flag.
• The update would allow users to search for contacts, apps, images and more.

It looks like the Google app on Android could be getting an update that will really make it the go-to app for all your needs. While you can currently use the app for simple searches, you can also use the app to take advantage of Google Lens, and even hum songs to the app to try to find that one tune that’s been bouncing around in your head all week. With that said, Google is always looking for ways to improve the app, and it looks like the latest beta gives us a clue of what’s to come in a future release.

The feature was uncovered by the folks at Android Authority, after doing a complete breakdown of the APK of the beta that comes in as version 15.30.27.29. As far as what they found, well, it appears that the Google app could get a universal search feature similar to Apple’s Spotlight Search, that will allow users to search for pretty much anything that’s on a device, including contacts, apps, images, settings, and more.

Search could be getting more powerful

What’s great is that this change could make the Google app a one-stop shop for anything that you’re searching for, which, as you can imagine, could make things extremely convenient. To be clear, if this sounds familiar, it’s because this feature has been available on most Android phones for quite some time now, but it has been introduced or packaged as a feature with various Android launchers.

So what makes this newly uncovered tidbit different is that when it does come to fruition, it will be a feature packaged with Google’s own app. Of course, if you don’t want the Google app to have access to this kind of information, it appears that you can customize the experience to omit certain data. While interesting, it will really depend on whether the manufacturer wants to utilize this or continue on with its own interpretation.

But if companies rely on Google’s app, it could become the default method of universal search, which would make the experience more seamless when going from device to device. As stated before, this isn’t something that’s already live and is only a feature that was spotted as a developer flag within the current beta of the Google app. But if things manage to go well, we could be seeing it relatively soon when it arrives in a public release.