Google launches a beta channel for the Android Google app

The Android Google app is the home screen, app drawer, voice search, and, of course, regular search.

Google has launched an official beta channel for the Android Google search app. Users looking to test the latest features of the app can opt in to the beta through Google Play's beta service.

We haven't seen an official announcement anywhere, but the beta signup process works and will serve a newer Google app than the normal channel. Presumably Google will use this the same way it does the Chrome beta channel—to test in-development features and bug fixes. We signed up, and our Google app updated from 5.4.24.19 to 5.4.25.19, but it doesn't seem like anything significant has changed.

Google could potentially make a lot of changes through the Google app. It doesn't just cover Google searches on Android; the Google app is the home screen, the app drawer, Google Now and Now on Tap, voice recognition, and the always-on voice commands.