20 November 2024


Google is working on a toolbox UI for Circle to Search

Mihai Matei

Reading time: 2 minutes

galaxy s24 circle to search
Galaxy AI
Although the functionality of Circle to Search hasn't changed much since it debuted on the Galaxy S24 family of phones, Google seems undecided about its UI design. A teardown of a Google app version in development shows that the company is again redrawing the UI of Circle to Search.

These recent findings in the Google app (version 15.45.43.ve.arm64 beta) reveal a redesigned Circle to Search UI that has a new button shaped kind of like a traditional app drawer (via Android Authority).

Functionality-wise, it's more like a toolbox than an actual app drawer in the true sense of the word. When tapped, this button reveals a small pop-up menu containing different Circle to Search functionalities, including “Translate” and “Identify a song.”

Even “Google Lens” is included in this pop-up toolbox, oddly enough. As confirmed by a Samsung Community moderator not long ago, the Lens option got removed in a recent Circle to Search update “due to a change in the concept of the Google app.” It now seems like it might make a comeback.

One last unusual design element revealed by this recent Google app teardown is that the “Identify a song” option exists in two places, both in the toolbar and the new pop-up menu.

This redundancy could merely be the result of this Circle to Search UI redesign being incomplete. Or it could hint that the new UI might have a user-favorite slot that could accommodate any other Circle to Search tool.