Google's Collections tab highlights automated suggestions with new design

Google App Homepage
Google App Homepage (Image credit: Jay Bonggolto / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Google has rolled out a new design for the Collections tab in the Google app.
  • The tab now displays automated recommendations categorized in AI-curated segments.
  • Google is gradually rolling out the new experience.

Google pushed a major update to the Collections tab last year, putting it front and center in the Google app along with AI-powered capabilities to automatically create curated lists. Now, it looks like Google has redesigned that experience in the app to reflect those changes.

The Collections tab now displays several carousels of automated suggestions that are fundamental to some of Google's services, as spotted by 9to5Google. There's a new "Quick access" section at the top where your most recent searches are shown, including the places you've saved in Google Maps or movies you'd like to watch. You can also modify that list with a quick-edit button at the top right corner.

Below that section is a new segment that displays the movies and TV shows related to your recent activities. A brief description of that segment says that the recommendations are based on titles you've recently searched for or added to your watchlist. There's a quick link as well that lets you visit your entire watchlist.

Further down the page is your curated Collections containing all the items you've manually picked. You can see the full list through a shortcut button that leads to a tiled view of your Collections.

Additionally, a "Shopping" section shows the products you've selected to track for price changes in the future. There's also a "Keep researching" segment below that where you'll see suggestions based on recent queries you've made for certain types of products.

Previously, the Collections tab displayed only a list of segments that needed to be manually filled with items by tapping the bookmark icon in Google Search. It's nice to see Google give the feature a breath of fresh air after tucking it away under the "More" menu.

That said, the latest change seems to be gradually rolling out to some of the best Android phones for now. We've asked Google as to when it will go live for everyone and we'll update this post soon.

Jay Bonggolto
News Writer & Reviewer

Jay Bonggolto always keeps a nose for news. He has been writing about consumer tech and apps for as long as he can remember, and he has used a variety of Android phones since falling in love with Jelly Bean. Send him a direct message via Twitter or LinkedIn.