Google Play has a new "Search" tab on the bottom bar

Google Play is rolling out an innovation that should improve the way users search for apps and games. After a successful test in December, Google has officially moved the Google Play search function to the bottom bar, adding a new Search tab.

Here's What We Know

Google Play now has a dedicated Search tab in the centre of the bottom bar, instead of the top of the screen. Tapping on this tab brings up the search bar as usual at the top of the screen. This change, according to the developers, should greatly improve the user experience.

Overall, the Google Play developers' decision to move the search function to the bottom bar is a convenient solution, but not quite logically finalised. When you open a new tab, the search bar appears at the top as before, which is somewhat inconsistent and does nothing for search convenience. As you can see in the skinshot, turning search into a two-step process seems unnecessary. With this change, the app bar under "Games and Apps" in the top left corner will only show the Play logo, while the notification bell and your profile avatar remain. The empty space in between seems pretty unused.

Perhaps this isn't the final solution yet and these aspects will still be finalised.

The updated search feature is currently rolling out with Google Play version 40.1.19-31 via a server-side update. The update will be gradually available to all users over the next few days.

Source: 9to5google