Google Photos may soon be searchable from your Pixel launcher — and that’s just the start

TL;DR

• Google appears to be getting Photos ready to support the ability to search through your pics from the Pixel launcher.
• Evidence in both Google Photos and recent Android 17 Beta builds hints at a new framework for Pixel launcher search bar integration.
• While Photos may be the first, other apps could make their own content searchable through the Pixel launcher.

Your phone’s home screen is arguably the most important piece of its interface — we’re constantly coming back to it when getting started with new tasks, and a smartly configured layout with our top apps and a few helpful widgets can go a long way towards helping you get the most out of your phone. For Pixel users, that includes Google’s ever-present search bar at the bottom of their screens, quickly connecting them with apps or offering a shortcut to searching on the web. But for as much as it already does, Pixel launcher search could be about to get a whole lot more powerful.

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Google’s been busy tweaking the Pixel launcher search bar experience lately, already replacing it with the Google app Search widget and giving us customized shortcuts. Now one of its next tricks looks like it could be expanding its search powers to Google Photos — and maybe some other apps, too.