Pixel 4 users have the least-intrusive version of Google’s digital assistant, but a new redesign to the Google Assistant UI has started appearing on older Pixel devices. Don’t be alarmed by the update, which gives your assistant a more streamlined look by allowing it to dynamically scale its size based on its response to your queries.
According to early impressions from 9to5Google, the new UI dedicates only the lower third of the screen to basic informational answers, while music playback commands take up half the screen. Visually-based commands or responses, such as weather reports, will cover two-thirds of the screen, but that’s the most space the Assistant window will take up—much less intrusive compared to the full-screen responses of the past.
There are still some distinct UI elements that are exclusive to Google Assistant on Pixel 4—specifically the transparent windows—but this update makes the user experience more consistent across all Pixel devices.
While the Google Assistant redesign will likely roll out to all older Pixel devices over time, it appears to be hitting Pixel 3 phones first, albeit inconsistently; so far only a smattering of users have noticed the update. Just to be sure, I tried installing on my original Pixel XL and didn’t notice any change yet.
You might want to try opting into the app’s beta by visiting this link (the link can also be used to opt-out if you run into any issues after installing the beta). After you’ve accepted the terms and joined the beta, you can either wait for Google Play to update the Google Assistant app, or you can manually download the beta version from the Play Store. With luck, this should be the fastest method for getting the Google Assistant UI tweaks, if you don’t want to wait for Google to roll it out to your device.
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