It seems that Google is still working on a new design for the incoming call UI on its Phone app for Pixel and other Android devices, as another new UI has just surfaced.
As it stands today, the Google Phone app – used on Pixel devices, as well as Android phones from OnePlus, Motorola, and other brands – shows an animated UI element that users can swipe up to answer an incoming call, or swipe down to decline. It’s not the most intuitive UI, but text shows how it works, and it only takes one or two uses to get the hang of it. Google, though, seems to be trying out something new behind the scenes.
Hidden in the latest Google Phone app update (v166.0.735169223), Android Authority spotted and enabled a new UI for answering phone calls which uses a left or right swipe gesture to decline or answer calls, respectively. A centered phone icon is what is dragged in either direction to answer or decline the call.
This new redesign isn’t live in the Phone app and had to be manually enabled to show it in action. It’s unclear if Google has any plans to roll it out widely, or even test it among users.
This isn’t the first time Google has tested a new UI for answering calls. Late last year, Google was testing a new design with distinct “Answer” and “Decline” buttons, similar to the incoming call style seen on Samsung devices and in iOS. That design never rolled out widely, though.
Top comment by Arthur
Not that I'm getting calls left and right and even fewer that I manually decline but this is a welcome change if it happens.
Personally I think it looks a lot better and cleaner but functionally speaking the issue I have declining calls is the button itself is placed too low on the screen and the swipe down gesture to decline a call is not the easiest to perform where as a left or right swipe feels more natural to me for something like answering or declining a call.
Google also notably released a redesigned call UI in February.
What do you think about a change to how you answer phone calls on the Google Phone app? Let us know in the comments below.
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