Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is testing a search bar placed at the bottom of the Google App.
- This would make it significantly easier to click on it.
- When it rolls out, this change would be a silent acknowledgment that phones have gotten really big, and UI elements on the top half aren’t as easy to reach anymore.
The Google App is more visibly known as being the center of the Search experience on Android phones. It is preloaded on practically all Android flagships sold outside of China as part of the Google Mobile Services (GMS) suite of apps. It’s quite an important app that dominantly affects the user experience, especially since Google also mandates a homescreen widget under GMS. Google could be making tweaks to the Google App, making it even easier to search on your phone.
TheSpAndroid spotted that Google had moved the position of the search bar on the new version 14.48.26.29.arm64 of the Google App. The search bar now sits at the bottom instead of the top; you can see the same in these screenshots.
Moving the search bar to the bottom is a more significant change than it appears on the surface. The bottom bar is easily reachable on all phones, and it is a silent acknowledgment that phones may have gotten big enough to the point where a UX element on the top half of the display does not provide the best conversion rates (i.e., users are seeing it but not clicking on it enough). Moving the search to the bottom would make it significantly easier to click on the box and improve your overall search experience.
Should Google move the search bar?
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Notably, Google Chrome on iOS continues to have a bottom URL bar, while Google Chrome on Android has a URL bar on the top. While this upcoming change has been spotted for the Google App, we are crossing our fingers and hope to see it on Chrome for Android, too. Phones are just too big these days to keep the important click elements within apps in the top half of the display.
