Gemini App Rolls Out Redesigned Side Panel and Settings Menu on Android and iOS

Google has begun rolling out a significant redesign of the Gemini app's navigation, according to 9to5Google, which reviewed the changes appearing on Android and iOS devices. The update reworks the side panel and settings menu without altering the app's homepage.

The most visible change moves the search function to the top-right corner of the side panel. Chat history now includes four filter options: All, Ready, Needs attention, and In progress. A new "Scheduled" item replaces the previous "Scheduled actions" page, and the panel now surfaces "Suggested" prompts such as "Create a news digest" or "Build a study quiz."

The redesign's centerpiece is a new "Customize" section built around two tabs. "Discover" functions as a mini app-store, surfacing "Skills" — which Google is using to replace Gems — alongside third-party connected apps. Skills are activated with the "@" symbol rather than the forward slash used in Gemini Spark, marking a shift in how users invoke specialized functions within the app.

The second tab, "Connectors," replaces the existing "Connected Apps" page. Google is extending the app-store framing here too: users can now "Uninstall" connected apps directly from an overflow menu.

Settings have also been reorganized. Tapping the profile avatar or gear icon now surfaces a restructured menu starting with "Manage account" and "Usage limits," followed by three grouped categories:

• Preferences: Notifications, Personal Intelligence, Avatar, Gem manager, Theme, Voice, Media, Device controls, Gemini Notebook
• Data & privacy: Import memory, Contact info from your devices, Gemini Apps Activity, Your public links, Privacy Help Hub
• Support: Help, Report a problem, About, Updates

According to 9to5Google, the settings redesign is not yet widely available — it appeared on only one of the outlet's Google Accounts during testing, though it showed up on both Android and iOS for that account, suggesting a staged or A/B rollout rather than a full platform-wide release.

Google has not published an official changelog or rollout timeline for either change, and pricing or availability details beyond the observed accounts were not disclosed.

What this means

This is an interface overhaul, not a model update — no new Gemini model version ships with this change. The more notable signal is the Gems-to-Skills rename and the accompanying app-store framing (Discover, Uninstall, Connectors), which suggests Google is positioning Gemini's extensibility system to compete more directly with OpenAI's GPT Store and Anthropic's growing tool-use ecosystem. The switch from slash commands to "@" mentions for invoking Skills also aligns Gemini's syntax closer to how mentions work in chat and collaboration tools, potentially easing the learning curve for new users. Because the rollout is currently limited to a small fraction of accounts, the final shipped version could still change before general availability.