By Alan Friedman
Publication Date: 2026-01-20 04:09:00
It’s the one part of the Android UI that I really never liked to look at and I’m guessing that many of you feel the same way. When using voice search on the Android version of the Google app, you tap the microphone icon in the app’s Search bar. Doing that used to redirect you to this page that featured an odd-looking bodyless face. Since voice search vocally responds to your query, the bodyless face appeared to move its mouth synchronized to the response you were hearing from Google.
In November, we told you that with Gemini taking over Google Assistant, the bodyless face was going away. I was using Gemini as my digital assistant, and for a couple of weeks, it did disappear. And while I continue to use Gemini for all of the things that I used to use Google Assistant for (answering questions, setting alarms and timers), the face returned and shows up briefly in the new UI.
