Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Chrome’s latest version on Android is bringing a redesigned bottom navigation bar.
- A major part of the redesign is the new Gemini button, which enables the AI’s improved capabilities, including the ability to access multiple tabs at once.
- These features are also promised to arrive on Chrome for iOS soon.
After months of facing regulatory hurdles, Gemini is finally more easily accessible to Chrome users in the UK. This delayed rollout comes months after Google last expanded Gemini’s footprint in the world’s most-used web browser. While the UK-specific change applies to Chrome for desktop, Google also plans to bring the features to iOS by next month. But even before that happens, the team is already rushing to deploy the feature on Android.
According to tipster Leopeva64 on X, Chrome on Android is starting to show a Gemini shortcut. It appears as part of a redesigned Chrome navigation bar, where the new Gemini button sits between the Home and your tab buttons.
While the option to invoke Gemini on top of a Chrome tab has existed for some time, users have had to rely on Gemini on their phones. More importantly, your ability to ask questions was limited to the single web page open on the screen. The new update addresses those challenges by first embedding Gemini more deeply into Chrome on Android and enabling multiple open tabs for content — just as you can in the Gemini sidebar in Chrome for desktop.
Interestingly, Gemini is already accessible directly within Chrome on iOS, but its powers have so far been restricted to the active tab. We don’t see any reports of similar changes in Chrome on iOS yet.
Chrome’s new navigation bar on Android also integrates the recently added back button, placing it to the left of the address bar while the right side features a three-dot (kebab) button.
Although Leopeva64 has demonstrated the new gateway to Gemini, it may not be widely available just yet. We don’t have it, even though we have the redesigned bottom navigation bar with Chrome v150 on Android. Google reportedly has been testing the feature for three months now, and it was initially expected to arrive last month for Android users, but only in the US. We don’t know whether that condition still applies.
There’s no confirmation from Google either, so there’s little clarity on a wider rollout. We’ll share an update once we know more.
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