Gemini's Live Mode Is Now Just A Swipe Away On Android

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Summary

The Gemini Android app is undergoing a visual refresh, with Google reverting the “+” menu to a list format and rearranging prompt box chips to prioritize video generation.
A significant update introduces a new swipe gesture for quicker access to Gemini Live, making the conversational AI assistant more intuitive to launch.
These UI adjustments are now live in the stable Google app (version 16.21) and follow recent developments on autocomplete prompts for the Gemini app.

Google is significantly tweaking the way the Gemini Android app looks and feels by relocating some key controls and making its conversational AI assistant easier to access.

These changes come soon after the tech giant was spotted working on an exciting quality-of-life improvement that should bring autocomplete prompts to the Gemini Android app.

The minor UI changes are now live with the stable Google app (version 16.21), and it reverses the ‘+‘ menu back to its old list layout, as pointed out by 9to5Google.

For reference, the app’s + menu, which houses controls for Camera, Gallery, Files, and Drive, used to list said controls in a list format. This changed back in March, with Google opting for a side-by-side pill layout. That minor UI tweak is being reversed now, with the app going back to the familiar list view, as seen in the third screenshot in the image below.

Screenshots highlighting Gemini app's UI changes.

Elsewhere, the app’s prompt box chips have been rearranged. The bar used to highlight Deep Research first. With the slight UI change, Video generation appears first now — a change likely made because of Veo 3’s surge in popularity. The tools’ descriptions have also been slightly tweaked, with a new half-circle logo for Canvas.

Most importantly, though, the update brings easier Gemini Live access to the app’s latest beta build, with the new gesture expected to make its way to stable soon.

Swipe-to-live

Previously accessed via the dedicated Gemini Live icon on the app’s bottom right, the conversational AI assistant can now be accessed by simply swiping from the right side of the screen towards the left. Swiping from left to right will bring you back to the main Gemini interface.

Although accessing Live from the power button is still the faster alternative, the new swipe gesture should provide a more intuitive way to trigger the conversational assistant for those already in the Gemini app.