Swiping into the Future: Google's New Gesture-Based Call UI for Android

Summary Google is reportedly experimenting with a new user interface (UI) for answering phone calls on the Google Phone app, primarily used on Pixel and other Android devices. The current UI involves swiping up to answer and down to decline an incoming call, which some users find less intuitive. In the latest update of the Google Phone app (v166.0.735169223), a new design has been discovered that requires left or right swipe gestures to decline or answer calls, respectively. A centered phone icon is dragged in either direction to perform these actions.

This redesign is not yet live and had to be manually enabled for testing. It's uncertain if Google will roll out this UI change widely or test it among users. Previously, Google tested a different design with distinct 'Answer' and 'Decline' buttons, similar to what is seen on Samsung devices and in iOS, but that version was not released.

Google has also introduced other updates to the Phone app, such as Scam Detection and call history filters.