In June, the search bar on Pixel phones’ home screen picked up a new button: quick access to Google’s AI Mode. The new functionality joined voice search and Google Lens buttons, bringing the search bar up to four separate functions, depending on where you tap it. Frankly, it’s a lot. According to an APK teardown from Android Authority, though, the situation could soon improve.
Today, the search bar at the bottom of the home screen on Pixel devices has buttons for voice search, Google Lens, and, as of recently, a newly added AI Mode button. That newest button is positioned on the right side of the bar and pushed the voice search and Lens buttons farther to the left — a shift that’s caused me to regularly tap the voice search button when I try to interact with the search bar generally. I don’t like it.
In Android Authority’s recent teardown of the Google app (version 16.26.64.sa.arm64), Android development enthusiast AssembleDebug uncovered that Google’s working on a toggle to turn the new AI Mode shortcut off altogether. According to AA, an in-development update could add a new “Customize Pixel Search Box” heading to the Google app’s settings. Tapping it will open a toggle that lets you turn the AI Mode shortcut off and back on.
Flipping this toggle to the off position currently scoots the other buttons back to where they were before AI Mode was added in the first place. That could change when the toggle rolls out, however.
Source: Android Authority/AssembleDebug
This change seems ready to go
This change hasn’t been officially announced and it’s unclear when Google intends to release it, but as Android Authority notes, it seems fully formed: once enabled, the new toggle works the way you’d expect it to. Unless Google scraps this change entirely, it seems likely that it’ll be rolling out in the near future. I hope it’s sooner than later; my muscle memory still hasn’t adjusted to the layout with AI Mode in the search bar.
