Google Is Quietly Testing a Fresh Look for Gemini Live
Google appears to be working on a redesigned Gemini Live interface for phones, complete with a new waveform animation and a dedicated mute button. The changes surfaced in a teardown of Google app version 17.65.17 by Android Authority, published October 12, and were picked up the same day by Android Headlines, RealHacker and Misryoum. None of it is live for users yet.
In the current Gemini Live interface, a pill-shaped bar at the bottom of the screen displays a waveform animation representing voice input. Within Google app v17.65.17, the Android Authority team managed to activate a new interface that swaps in a different waveform UI. Android Headlines described the change as replacing the standard pill-shaped voice indicator with a smoother graphic effect whenever you talk to the AI. Android Authority attached a short demo video, with the caveat that because the interface is so early, it does not actually respond to queries.
Beyond the cosmetic change, the new interface includes a button with a speaker icon near the top-right corner. Android Authority says this button will likely let users mute Gemini Live's voice output. Android Headlines spelled out the problem it solves: today, silencing the assistant means lowering your global media volume, which silences everything else on the phone and makes it easy to miss alarms, phone calls or message notifications. A dedicated speaker button would let you read Gemini's written replies on screen with one tap of an app-level toggle, leaving system volume untouched. Misryoum and RealHacker repeated the same framing: a dedicated toggle that does not require adjusting the global system volume. All of them noted the caveat — this is an inference from code, not a confirmed Google feature.
Google has made no announcement about this redesign. The new animation and the speaker button are not currently live in Gemini Live. Just as important, the interface is far from finished: because it is such an early work in progress, it is missing several buttons found in the current version, including video sharing and screen sharing. Misryoum and RealHacker both confirmed the omissions. What the teardown surfaced is a skeleton, not a shippable product, and it can change or be scrapped before it reaches a single phone.
The redesign lands amid a stretch of heavy churn for the feature. In mid-September, Google released Gemini 3.8 Live and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, its newest real-time voice models, which the company says detect and switch among 97 languages mid-conversation. On September 24 it followed with Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar, giving the assistant a near real-time animated face. Earlier this month, Guided Vision began rolling out inside Gemini Live, narrating a camera feed for blind and low-vision users. Meanwhile, the Neural Expressive design language has already reached the Gemini overlay and Circle to Search, and a similar animation is in testing for Android Auto. Read in that light, the new waveform looks less like a one-off tweak and more like Google bringing Live in line with a single visual identity across its AI surfaces — while finally fixing a voice-assistant annoyance users have put up with for years.
For now, nobody sees the change. The interface exists only in an unreleased build, with no sign of a staged rollout; every outlet that showed it had to activate it through teardown tricks. The users who would benefit most are the ones who lean on Gemini Live constantly and keep getting tripped up by the "drop system volume or tolerate the talking" trade-off — people reading replies aloud in meetings, on trains, or anywhere a spoken answer is unwelcome. As for what comes next, Android Authority said it will keep readers updated as it learns more. But teardown-to-rollout timelines are unpredictable, and two gates remain: restoring the missing controls such as video and screen sharing, and flipping a server-side switch. Until a real version number ships, the only move is to wait.