- Google redesigned the Gemini overlay glow on Android to extend across the full screen perimeter, replacing the previous pill-shaped animation around the prompt box.
- The Temporary chat button moved from the side panel to the top-right corner beside the profile image on web, making it more visible but less accessible mid-conversation.
- The web rollout is widely available, while Android availability remains more limited and may require force-stopping the Google app to trigger the update.
What Happened
Google rolled out two design changes to the Gemini app on March 31, 2026: a redesigned glow effect on the Android overlay and a relocated Temporary chat button on the web interface. 9to5Google’s Abner Li reported that the glow animation, which previously appeared only around the pill-shaped Gemini prompt box, now extends across the entire screen perimeter when the overlay is activated by long-pressing the power button or swiping from the bottom corners.
The new glow is predominantly blue, with red, green, and yellow accents appearing toward the bottom of the screen. The colors fade out after a few seconds, leaving the standard overlay interface. On the web, the Temporary chat feature, which allows conversations that are not saved to history, moved from the side panel next to “New chat” to the top-right corner beside the user’s profile image and subscription status.
Why It Matters
The glow redesign is a visual branding change that makes the Gemini activation more prominent across the full screen rather than confined to the input area. This signals Google’s intent to position Gemini as a system-level assistant rather than a chat interface, reinforcing the overlay’s role as a layer on top of whatever the user is doing on their device.
The Temporary chat relocation reflects a trade-off between visibility and convenience. The new placement in the top-right corner is more prominent on the homepage, but users must navigate back to the homepage to access it from within a conversation. Previously, the side panel allowed starting a Temporary chat from anywhere. The change reduces side panel clutter at the cost of requiring an extra navigation step.
Technical Details
The Android glow changes apply to the Gemini overlay, the interface that appears when users invoke the assistant through the power button long-press or corner swipe gesture. The glow animation uses Google’s four brand colors (blue, red, green, yellow) distributed across the screen edges, with blue dominating the upper portions and the other colors concentrated at the bottom. The animation renders at the perimeter of the display, independent of the content being shown underneath the overlay.
On web, the Temporary chat icon now appears in a blue circle when activated, providing clearer visual feedback that the session will not be saved. The Temporary chat feature itself remains functionally identical: conversations started in this mode do not appear in the chat history and are not used for personalization or memory features.
Who’s Affected
The web changes are “widely” available across all Gemini accounts, according to the report. The Android glow update has a more limited rollout, and users who do not see it are advised to force-stop the Google app to trigger the update. The changes affect all Gemini users regardless of subscription tier, applying to both free and Gemini Advanced accounts.
These updates follow a series of recent Gemini redesigns, including the broader rollout of free Personal Intelligence and Memory features reported on March 27, 2026. Google has been steadily iterating on Gemini’s interface as it competes with ChatGPT and Claude for user attention in the conversational AI market.
What’s Next
The limited Android rollout suggests Google is testing the new glow with a subset of users before a wider release. The Temporary chat relocation on web may also reach mobile in a future update, though no timeline has been confirmed. The current implementation creates an inconsistency between web and mobile placement that Google will likely resolve as the rollout expands.
The Temporary chat feature is particularly relevant as privacy-conscious users seek ways to interact with AI without building a persistent profile. Unlike standard conversations, Temporary chats are excluded from the memory and personalization systems that Gemini uses to tailor responses over time. Making the feature more visible, even at the cost of mid-conversation accessibility, suggests Google sees privacy-mode usage as a meaningful part of how people want to interact with its AI assistant going forward.
