Android 15 will be the most innovative OS on Android smartphones. Google, with its latest major OS update, lets you use the Circle to Search feature even when the persistent taskbar is showing on tablets.
Initially, Circle to Search with Google debuted on the recently launched Galaxy S24 series, then expanded to Motorola Galaxy and Pixel devices, including tablets. However, the recent release on the Pixel Tablet of Android 15 has a kind of bug that forces the feature not to work with the action key.
The action key is the button on the Android taskbar that introduces the floating app drawer. Just because Circle to Search can be appealing by long-pressing on the navigation handle, you might think there isn’t an issue with the feature on the Pixel Tablet. However, the navigation handle vanished while switching to the persistent taskbar, which means there’s no medium to appeal to Circle to Search unless you change back to the original, transient taskbar.
The circle to search feature on the Pixel Tablet permits you to search on-screen content to avoid the time-consuming searching steps, but it had a bug in Android 15. It comes into action by long-pressing navigation action, but that disappeared while switching to the persistent taskbar. This meant that Circle to Search was not usable with the persistent taskbar. Now, Google, with the latest Android 15 Beta 3, has fixed this by permitting users to invoke Circle to Search with the action key regardless of the taskbar style.
When you boot up Android 15 Beta 3 and switch to the persistent taskbar, the launcher will even inform you that this is now possible by displaying a pop-up. Notably, the function to use the action key for this feature in Android 15 Beta 3 is not groundbreaking with the transient taskbar; it seems quite convenient with the persistent taskbar. This fix will help tablet users easily access Circle to Search, regardless of their taskbar preference. The update also permits the feature to be used even in split-screen mode.
