Google Drive Tests Moving Scanner To The Bottom Bar on Android

For some, the Google Drive scanner is how they digitize documents and receipts, and the Android app is testing a change that makes it more prominent.

At the moment, Google Drive for Android has a four-tab bottom bar and two FABs. The large ‘plus’ floating action button lets you create a new Folder, Upload, Scan, and Google Docs/Sheets/Slides. The second is a regular-sized FAB above it to immediately launch the camera scanner.

Google is now testing a dedicated “Scan” tab alongside Home, Starred, Shared, and Files in the bottom bar. Appearing at the center, it just opens the fullscreen camera interface, while the plus FAB reverts to a normal size. Google increased the shortcut earlier this year to better emphasize the camera.

Old vs. new

Putting Scan in the bottom bar reflects how that functionality is a key enough use case for people that Google deems it necessary to elevate into a core section. Personally, I think five tabs in a bottom bar looks a bit busy. Google Maps and Photos in the past year have consolidated down to three tabs.

We’re so far just seeing this change to the scanner on one account with version 2.25.220.0 of Google Drive for Android.