Google has updated the interface of the AI ​​assistant on Android

Google is significantly redesigning and modernizing voice search on Android: the company is updating the outdated interface and adding elements related to AI modes. The redesign affects the visual part, navigation, and voice settings, but is currently available to a limited number of users.

Voice search can be launched from a widget on the home screen (including the Pixel Launcher) or from any Google search bar within the application. The query is processed by the Google Search service, opening a standard results page, and the answer is spoken aloud. The interface with a wave of four dots has existed for several years.

Google’s new AI design on Android

The redesign begins with a centered gradient letter “G”, on both sides of which there is a “Back” button and a menu with three dots to go to voice settings. There you can select languages, enable or disable the voice of the results and choose a voice: Cosmo, Neso, Terra or Cassini. The dark theme has also been updated.

The prompt displays the inscription “Listening…” with the same illustration of a person as before. At the bottom, a four-color arc appears, borrowed from AI Mode and Search Live, and above it – the deciphered text of the query. There is also a larger button “Search a song” that opens the music search interface with the prompt “Play, Sing, Hum”. It replaces the previous animation with a globe. In the upper right corner, a shortcut to the song search history is available.

The start of the rollout of this update is noted in versions 17.1 (stable) and 17.2 (beta) of the Google app for Android. It is not yet available to all users. Google’s next move will likely be to revamp its text search interface. A month ago, the company intentionally replaced the Pixel Launcher’s search with a Google app search, and that wasn’t a good decision. Instead of the fast and visually modern Pixel Launcher search, users were presented with a full-screen Google app interface that looks dated and more limited in functionality, which detracts from the Pixel’s uniqueness.

As a result, the Google Android app’s voice search update looks more like a cosmetic move, with a focus on unification and AI-based visuals. In the wake of the Pixel Launcher’s recent failed switch to the legacy Google search experience, this redesign continues the strategy of updating individual components without a systemic rethink of text search.