Google Assistant testing new, condensed interface on Android w/ ‘Explore’ on bottom bar

Ben Schoon | Dec 14 2018 - 7:01 am PT

Over the past couple of months, Google has been rolling out several updates to the Assistant interface. This week, it seems the company is testing another new UI change for Google Assistant on Android, this time with a condensed size and bottom bar.

The bottom bar interface has slowly been taking over in the Android world. Many of Google’s apps have been adopting it, and Samsung even redesigned its entire UI based on that concept. For Google Assistant on Android, that bottom bar interface helps to condense the overall size of the UI quite significantly.

In that bottom bar, you’ll find the typical microphone icon, but it’s now in a button of sorts with the keyboard and Google Lens icons on either side. To the far right, there’s the “Explore” icon for accessing Assistant settings and also viewing its various apps and services. On the far left, you’ll find the “Visual Snapshot” button which pulls up Google Now-esque information.

This appears to be a server-side update and, so far, we’re not seeing the change on any of our devices. As far as looks and general functionality go, though, this Google Assistant bottom bar interface is a pretty welcome improvement for Android users. Currently, there’s no sign of a wider rollout yet. Let us know in the comments if your device has this new interface.