Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Our APK teardown of the latest Google app beta revealed several features that are currently in testing.
Search Live might be getting an “Interrupt Live responses” toggle, along with live captions.
There’s also a potential new way to add AI Mode to your search, as well as tweaks to Gemini’s image markup tools.
Some updates to the Google app are pretty routine, but not this week. We’ve been digging around in the latest beta of the app (version 16.43.60.sa.arm64 beta) and by enabling some internal settings, we’ve spotted a few interesting features in testing. It looks like Google’s laying the groundwork for even more flexibility with its AI experiences, including a smoother way to use Search Live. We’ll run you through each of the three main changes we’ve spotted below.
Search Live might get a new way to handle interruptions
Jumping into the Search Live settings menu... ... reveals a new toggle. We also spotted captions.
Search Live is Google’s conversational take on Search, letting you chat in real time using voice or video. In the latest beta, there’s an extra setting in testing called “Interrupt Live responses.”
We found it in the settings section under the three-dot menu from the Search Live screen, and it gives you control over whether you want your own interactions to stop the AI from talking. If you’ve ever accidentally cut it off mid-sentence or wished it wouldn’t stop every time you spoke, this would help. By turning the toggle off, you can stop Search Live from pausing when you interject, letting it finish what it’s saying before you jump back in. The Model selector option in the first screenshot above is a debug setting triggered during our teardown, rather than a potential new feature.
We also enabled a setting that allows live captions to appear at the bottom of the screen while Search Live is speaking, which is handy if you prefer to read rather than listen. The third screenshot above shows this in action.
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