Google Is Finally Fixing Our Biggest Gripe With Gemini’s Redesigned Overlay

Gemini is one of Google’s fastest-growing AI services, with new features added practically every day. That’s how it was able to replace Assistant as the default voice command handler on Android within a few months of launch, even if the features have room for improvement. A sense of finality came when Gemini’s full-screen overlay rolled out, but it still didn’t give users complete control since the on-screen options were limited. That could change soon with a new gesture to summon the full UI with a single swipe

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While the Gemini app offers a fully fleshed out UI with options to switch the active AI model and check up on active extensions, these options don’t show if you summon the AI assistant on the home screen using the long-press shortcut. Our contributors Moshe and AP’s founder Artem Russakovskii noted that since the redesigned overlay UI came in January, there’s no easy way to go full screen. You could launch Gemini from the app drawer from the get-go or navigate back immediately after tapping the conversation button, but neither is intuitive.

Now, reputable Google app researcher and tipster AssembleDebug tells Android Authority that a simple swipe up gesture could immediately switch from the overlay UI to full-screen mode. The latest Google app beta bearing version number 6.19.42.sa.arm64 beta includes a small bar that allows swiping up to enter full-screen mode without initiating a conversation first.

Previous responses are becoming searchable too

But only in beta

This new way to trigger the fully functional Gemini interface will be a gamechanger for users who switch between various models frequently, since the overlay shows up everywhere the app isn’t used. However, this UI is still in development and the tipster managed to activate it using hidden app flags. That said, the UI looks complete and fully functional, so a release shouldn’t be too far down the road.

While we are on the subject of Gemini conversations, the tipster notes that conversations are now searchable and the change is rolling out in the beta channel, unguarded by flags and accessible to testers. Through this change, users can give their thumbs a rest from scrolling up through old responses, and use a simple search function instead. Together, these changes can weed out the biggest annoyances regular Gemini users face on Android.