Google app puts Search bar at the bottom of its browser

The Google app on Android is showing a persistent Search bar at the bottom of any web result or Discover article you open.

You’ll find an “Ask anything” Search bar at the bottom of the Chrome Custom Tab. The four-color ‘G’ — which appears misaligned and too close to the edge to my eye — appears first, with the microphone and Lens buttons appearing at the right. 

Tapping simply takes you to the fullscreen Search page with previous queries listed and other suggestions as you type.

The bar obviously decreases how much of the webpage you can see, but it’s not significant. (In the case of our site, you miss out on the first paragraph.) It comes as those that have “AI tools while browsing” enabled in Search Labs get a different kind of bar with a slightly greater space reduction. However, we’re no longer seeing that active with the bottom Search field. For those that use the feature, open the overflow menu for “View page insights.” 

Besides encouraging more queries, this could be a precursor to the Search bar moving to the bottom in the main screen of the app.

We’re seeing this across several devices, including tablets, after updating to the latest Google app beta (version 15.24) today. 

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