Google is putting more of Gemini's best features right at your fingerprints

Over the past few months, Google has been steadily redesigning the Gemini experience on Android, and the latest update continues that trend. The company is adding more tools directly to the Gemini overlay, allowing users to jump into tasks without first opening the full app.

The biggest change here is that the Gemini overlay is no longer just a gateway to the app. What once provided access to images and Personal Intelligence is now expanding to include tools like video generation, music creation, canvas, and guided learning, bringing a much broader slice of Gemini’s capabilities to the surface.

The changes center on the Plus (+) button in the Gemini overlay — Google is now transforming it into a much more capable entry point for Gemini’s growing toolkit.

The company hasn’t overhauled everything, though. Familiar shortcuts like Photos, Camera, Files, and Drive remain exactly where you’d expect them, making it easy to pull content directly into Gemini. Whether you want the AI to analyze a photo, summarize a document, or answer questions about a file you’ve saved, those entry points are still front and center.

These additions definitely make the overlay feel far more capable than before. Earlier versions felt like a doorway into Gemini; this one feels closer to a condensed version of the full experience. For many users, there may be little reason to launch the main app at all unless they’re swooping into a longer conversation.

The redesign isn’t perfect, however. To make room for all these new tools, Google has pushed the feature carousel higher up the screen. On larger phones, some options are now a little less comfortable to reach with one hand. Still, we’d argue the tradeoff is worth it. The slight hit to one-handed usability is offset by the fact that far more of Gemini’s capabilities are now available from virtually anywhere on Android.