Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has recently updated Gemini with a boatload of in-development UI tweaks.
- Some include dropping the “Gemini” name from headers, and rebranding “Saved info.”
- We also see further progress on multiple changes to the way you view and access chat history.
Update 2: June 17, 2025 (09:25 AM ET): The updated sidebar is now rolling out in beta with Google app v16.23.69.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
However, the ability to search past conversations is still not available, neither are the other mentioned features.
Update: May 19, 2025 (12:27 PM ET): We previously found evidence of Google working on a feature that will allow you to search past conversations with Gemini. While the feature wasn’t functional before, it is now and is starting to roll out. Additionally, the sidebar in the app has been redesigned to match the web interface, and you no longer have to tap on “See more” again and again to keep scrolling.
Original article: April 29, 2025 (6:00 AM ET): Google already loved constantly reinventing its apps and services, always testing redesigns and tweaking interfaces in the hopes of figuring out what works best. Then Gemini got here, and it feels like this practice has just shifted into high gear, with Google coming out with new Gemini models almost as fast as it’s updating the app itself. Today we’re not checking out any one big change to Gemini on Android, but instead taking a peek under the hood at a number of smaller adjustments that appear to currently be in development.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
This time around, we’re looking at version 16.16.39.sa.arm64 beta of the Google app. Nothing we’re showing you here can currently be seen in the software, but enough of the pieces are already in place in the code such that we’re able to coax the app into showing an early preview. Here’s one to get us started, as Google thinks about dropping the Gemini label from the header when listing models:
Here’s another look where we can see the Gemini name vanishing both at the top of the screen and in the model selector sheet. There are a couple other tweaks Google’s experimenting with here, as well: a blue effect on the background, and reorganizing how model names are presented in relation to their descriptions.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
Are you as big a fan of Gemini “Saved info” as we are, making it easy for the service to remember your preferences and personal information? Well, while that option itself doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, Google seems to be thinking about some potential rebranding, as there’s an alternate version of the shortcut here labeled “Memory,” instead.
Last week, we found our first evidence hinting at Gemini getting a new tool to let you search through your chat history. Looking at this release, it’s definitely clear that Google is trying out some new options for the chat history, but not all of them are playing nicely with each other right now.
On the left, up top, we see how a search bar could be implemented for Gemini chat history. But we’ve also found work on a different variation of chat history, putting Gems on top, and your history beneath. So far this one isn’t working with the search bar, but Google could find a way to integrate the two further down the line. And here’s a new text string referencing this WIP search option:
Code
<string name="assistant_chat_threads_search_hint">Search for chats</string>Finally, we’ve already seen Google developing some new features for Gemini’s compose box, and can now add a couple more. When that new look finally rolls out, we could see the app offering suggestions for research topics and Canvas projects:
Like we said, so far none of this is public-facing, but there is definitely a certain momentum to at least some of these changes, so we wouldn’t be surprised if a few are ready to make their formal debut very soon.
