Following the substantial success of OpenAI’s video editing application, Sora, which has reached the top of the U.S. App Store charts, Google appears to be considering a more visually focused revamp for its Gemini AI app. The company is seemingly testing a new user interface that would transform the application from its current chatbot style into a design that features a scrollable feed with suggested prompts accompanied by compelling photos.
The New Visual Interface
These changes were initially observed in a recent version of the Gemini Android app by the news site Android Authority, though they are not yet publicly available. A reverse engineer examined the app’s code and successfully enabled the new home screen. In this redesigned layout, shortcut buttons for functions like “Create Image” or accessing “Deep Research” were moved higher up on the screen, followed by the new scrollable content feed. When asked for comment, a Google spokesperson simply said there was no announcement to be made “just yet.”
The examples of the new interface showed prompts designed to suggest creative uses for photos, such as “Teleport me to deep space,” “Give me a vintage or grunge look,” or “Turn my drawing into a storybook.” Other prompts, set against colorful backgrounds, offered various ideas for questions or use cases for Gemini, including “Brainstorm out loud with Live” and “Send me a daily news roundup.”
Strategy Against Competition
The underlying goal of this design shift is to inspire users with specific suggestions for how to best utilize Gemini’s AI capabilities, moving away from leaving them to figure out the chatbot’s potential on their own. Critically, the revamp would also make the Gemini app significantly more visually appealing and engaging for the average consumer.
If this new interface is rolled out to the public, it could bolster Google’s challenge against rival OpenAI, whose ChatGPT app maintains a largely minimalist design that opens to a blank screen. Moreover, the visual focus could help Google capitalize on the high consumer demand for its newer AI image model, Nano Banana. This model was instrumental in helping the Gemini app climb the App Store’s Top Charts in September, where it held the No. 1 ranking as of September 12 until it was subsequently surpassed by Sora.
Author’s Opinion
Google’s proposed redesign of the Gemini app is a tacit acknowledgment that pure conversational utility, as embodied by the classic chatbot interface, is insufficient for mass market adoption. In the post-Sora world, where visual excitement dominates app charts, Google is making a strategic pivot to lure users with visual suggestion and novelty. This change correctly recognizes that the barrier to using complex AI is often not technical, but inspirational; a scrollable, image-rich feed makes the AI feel like a creative partner rather than a stark command line, which is essential for competing against rivals who have successfully tapped into the viral potential of creative AI.
Featured image credit: NewsInfo
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