Following testing in December, Google is moving Play Store search to the bottom bar with a new tab.
Instead of a search bar at the top of the screen when you’re viewing the “Games” and “Apps” feeds, Google Play is switching to a “Search” tab at the center of the bottom bar.
When you open the new tab, the search bar appears at the top like before, which is somewhat anticlimactic and doesn’t do anything for reachability.
You get a grid of “You might like” and “Explore games” search terms. The latter grouping is accompanied by icons, while the former just has a magnifying glass icon. Visually, it’s not a very interesting page and a bit too text heavy. Meanwhile, making search a two tap/stage process feels unnecessary.
With this change, the app bar in Games and Apps will just show the Play logo in the top-left corner, while the notification bell and your profile avatar remains. The empty space in-between feels rather wasted.
Meanwhile, the new Search tab is only for application queries. There are no changes to the Books tab, which feels tacked on to the Play Store at this point, with the field remaining up top. (It follows Play Books widely rolling out its Material You redesign this week.)
This is rolling out with version 40.1.19-31 of the Play Store via a server-side update. It’s not yet widely available, but Google looks to be committing to this design.
More on Google Play:
- Play Pass subs have grown 120% in the past year, 220M Play Points users
- Google Play details ‘external offers’ program for Android apps in Europe
- Play Store gets a second splash screen of sorts, form factor switcher in listings
- Google Play is not showing available system app updates
Thanks, Marko
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments