Allthe best smartphoneshave been getting a lot bigger over the past decade, but some apps still put important interface elements at the top of the screen, making it harder to comfortably reach them. This is true for the Google Search app, which offers its primary interaction element, the search bar, at the top of the display. It looks like Google is experimenting with flipping this upside down, though.
A new search bar has been spotted sitting right on top of the bottom navigation bar comprising home, search, and saved. It’s still under development and not enabled by default, ascovered by AssembleDebug. When turned on via hidden flags, the new position is active on both Google’s home page and in the search interface. When you have an active search, you will see the current search term in the bar, like you usually would. The rest of the relevant options like search filters, different sections, and your account settings are still at the top. The search bar is the only thing moved to the bottom.
AssembleDebug reports that they were able to activate the bottom search bar in version 14.48.26.29.arm64 of the Google app, the most recent release. The Android expert speculates that the new look might be in testing with a few beta testers chosen at random. As always, a discovery like this doesn’t necessarily mean that the new search bar is rolling out like this, though. Google could also determine the experiment as a failure and shelve it indefinitely.
Google previously experimented with bottom-based navigation in Chrome for Android but scrapped the experiment in 2020. Back then, the company tested different iterations of bottom navigation, including fully moving the address bar to the bottom, but also hybrid options with some key buttons at the bottom while keeping the address bar at the top. Other browsers like Firefox have embraced this design, though, allowing you to choose between top and bottom navigation.
It’s possible that Google might revisit bottom-based navigation in Chrome for Android soon, though. Chrome recently added an option to move the address bar to the bottom on iOS, closely mirroring the default experience on Apple’s Safari browser. With this move and the Google app experiment, extending this UX tweak to more apps on Android doesn’t seem out of the question.
For what it’s worth, you can already eliminate the need to stretch your thumb to the top of the screen in Google Search right now. When you’re in the search tab, you can simply tap the search button at the bottom once more to pull up the keyboard and enter a new term in the search bar. This handy trick is available in quite a few apps, actually.
