Smarter Pixel Launcher with Android 13: Direct search in the Play Store

Google is streamlining the search for the Pixel Launcher and it’s making it smarter. The opportunity comes from Android 13, which from beta to beta (the fourth arrived last month) is gradually composing the stable and definitive version of the “new” green robot. Colleagues from 9to5google.com have noticed on some Google Pixels – the most recent for the moment, Pixel 6a and Pixel 6 Pro – a different behavior of the search boxes than in the past.

Previously, in fact, typing the name of an app in the search bar at the bottom of the home screen started a simple search on the web, while now Google has standardized its behavior to that of the search bar in the drawer, the one that is displayed with an upward swipe from the dock apps. On Pixels with Android 13 beta, both display first the results of the web search, then, in the area From this deviceallow you to start a search within the device.

But trying with an appfor example the game angry Birdsthe intelligence of Google understands the type of content searched by the user e suggests one of the corresponding apps on the Play Store, complete with user ratings and developers’ names, or to start a search in the Play Store using the keywords you typed as search keywords. If you typed the name of a contact in the address book, the appropriate card would be proposed, and so on with the other types of content already supported to which the new one for the Play Store apps is added.

And in the event that the specific search fails and the mechanism is forced to cross its arms, even through the home screen bar, as happened with that of the drawer, you can quickly start a search on YouTube, Maps, again. Play Store, or Settings. As mentioned, the news does not seem to be widely spread on Pixels with Android 13 beta, which however is compatible with the logic of the attempts that are made in the “preview” firmware.