Google working to bring Bard AI to Pixel phones as a homescreen widget

Google is preparing to make its Bard AI easier to access on Pixel phones and tablets, starting with an upcoming homescreen widget exclusive to the company’s devices.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

First released in a waitlisted public preview, Google’s Bard is a generative AI that competes with the likes of ChatGPT, the new Bing, and more. As it stands, Bard is siloed off and only accessible through its dedicated website.

In the last few months, Google has steadily worked to make Bard and other LaMDA-powered tech more readily available through options like generated drafts in Gmail, text generation in Docs, and more. We also exclusively reported on an effort to introduce Bard into ChromeOS, adding it to the launcher alongside the Assistant.

While Bard is certainly usable on Android today through your web browser of choice, it’s a far cry from the deep integration of GPT-4 into Microsoft’s Edge and Bing. Thankfully, it seems Google has plans to make its Bard AI even easier to use on Android.

According to code viewed by 9to5Google, the Bard AI is set to arrive on Android in the near future, complete with a homescreen widget. At this time, we don’t know whether Bard will be integrated into the Google Search app or arrive as a standalone app. Either case would be a much-needed upgrade from its current web-only availability.

It’s not yet clear what the homescreen widget will do, but we do know that it should serve a more direct purpose than simply serving as a one-tap shortcut to a new conversation with Bard. We speculate it may contain suggested prompts for conversations, opening directly into the corresponding app.

Interestingly, this Bard widget is currently set to be exclusive to Google’s Pixel phones, at least at the start. Considering Bard is still only in a limited preview, it’s possible that being a Pixel owner may soon allow you to skip the waitlist, or perhaps the waitlist will soon be lifted.

It’s previously been reported that Google has numerous AI-related announcements to share at this year’s I/O conference. Given the event is also currently set to serve as the formal debut for the Pixel 7a and Tablet, it’s possible we’ll learn more next week about how Bard will become helpful on Pixels.

What would you want Bard to do on a Pixel phone or tablet? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.

Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.