9to5Google is sharing screenshots of this feature in action, showing a floating shortcut similar to chat heads. This new Google Search shortcut made an appearance within the code of Google Home beta v12.44. Users have the freedom to move it to any corner of the screen. However, users can’t place this floating Search shortcut on the widget grid. This is likely to avoid interference with homescreen widgets. The floating shortcut comprises two buttons for standard text search and voice search, respectively.
Users will receive a notification when the floating Google Search shortcut is live
When the new feature is live, users could receive a notification asking if they want it on their homescreen. Users can drag & drop the button to the bottom of the screen to either turn it off completely or hide it for a while. Since this is just a leak at the moment, we have no word on when it will reach devices. But it is likely to roll out soon since it appears to be in the late stages of development. Esper’s Senior Technical Editor Mishaal Rahman suggests that the feature is accessible by downloading Google app v12.44.17.29 and launching the following activity: ‘com.google.android.apps.gsa.staticplugins.bubble.searchbubble.ui.OptinAlertDialogActivity’ Google Search has seen numerous updates over the past few months with some minor, but significant changes. Last month, the company introduced continuous scrolling for Search on mobile devices. This effectively replaces the “See more” button that would appear at the bottom of the page, thus offering an endless stream of results. Separately, the company introduced ‘Dark Mode’ to the web version of Google Search after testing it for a few months. So the company hasn’t been quite proactive about all of its features. Google can be forgiven for neglecting some of its apps and services considering the big release of the Pixel 6 series last month. However, things have been far from smooth for the tech giant with several users reporting a handful of issues with the new smartphones. Earlier this week, some Pixel 6 owners said on Reddit that the fingerprint scanners stopped working after their phones ran out of battery. Moreover, users found that their fingerprint profiles were deleted from the phone as well.
