The Google app for Android might ditch its dedicated search button

Summary

• Google Search tab on Android app may be removed soon.
• Recent beta version of Google app lacks Search tab. Main search bar remains, but bottom search option may go.
• Google’s UI changes driven by user data. Search will still be easy to access, despite bottom tab removal.

For many, the name Google is synonymous with search — even though the company is trying its best to convince us that it’s an AI company now. Despite all the new AI features and even integrating AI into its search engine, search has always been Google’s main way of attracting users. However, it seems one way to draw users to search — using the search tab on its Android app — might be going away soon.

The report comes from reliable leaker Assemble Debug (via Android Authority), who claims that the latest beta version of the Google app for Android (version 15.32.37.28.arm64) no longer features the prominent Search tab on the bottom. The report claims that Google is experimenting with various new layouts for the app, but none of them include the familiar search button at the bottom.

You can still access search another way

To be clear, the main search bar that appears when you open the app is still there, but the bottom search bar that lets users quickly jump to search from deep within the Discover section or while browsing saved collections is likely being removed. The same remains for the search widget, which remains unaffected and will continue to function as before work. It’s just the bottom search tab that’s going away.

The reason for this change isn’t clear yet — the leaker suggests these UI changes are driven by data analytics and are “modeled after how actual users interact with the app.” So, it could be the case that users weren’t engaging much with the bottom search button. However, the search will still remain easy to access despite the change, as the search bar appears as soon as you swipe up slightly.

What’s odd is that Google is once again changing the design language between its apps. Just last month, the Play Store’s new Search tab started rolling out, bringing some consistency with the Google app, but now it seems that the search tab from the Google app is being removed. It’s even stranger because Google recently started working on making search more powerful — allowing users to search almost anything on their phone, from contacts to apps and even settings — yet the search function is becoming less prominent in the Google app itself.