Google Tests “+” Button on Mobile Homepage for AI Mode

Google is testing a brand new “+” button within the search bar on its cellular homepage, changing the magnifying-glass icon that usually seems on the left.

It adjustments what the acquainted Google search field can do earlier than a consumer even varieties a question. Tapping the “+” opens a menu with choices together with Gallery, Digicam, Information, AI Mode, and Create photos. The menu additionally seems for customers who aren’t signed in to a Google account, no less than on this take a look at.

The menu intently resembles the “+” menu Google added to Chrome on cellular. Chrome’s cellular “+” menu gives entry to Digicam, Gallery and Information, together with AI options.

Google first added a “+” button to the Search homepage in December 2025. That model changed the magnifying glass on desktop and supplied choices to add a picture or file, which then opened AI Mode. On the time, the function was reported as being out there on desktop internet, not cellular.

The identical interplay has since appeared on different cellular surfaces. In April 2026, the Google app and Android Search bar examined a “+” menu with choices together with Gallery, Digicam, AI Mode and picture creation.

Bringing the menu to the cellular homepage places these choices one faucet away from the place many customers begin a search. Customers can begin an AI Mode session or present a picture or file with out first opening a separate search mode.

It isn’t clear how extensively the cellular homepage take a look at has rolled out. Google has not introduced the change, so it might stay an experiment or attain extra customers as a part of a gradual rollout.