Gemini App Redesign: Side Panel + Customize Skills Sep 2026

Gemini’s chrome is getting quieter. On September 28, 2026, 9to5Google documented an early Android/iOS rollout focused on navigation, not a brand-new model drop.

Side panel changes

• Search moved to the top-right
• Chat history filters: All / Ready / Needs attention / In progress
• Scheduled replaces the old Scheduled actions page, with suggested prompts (news digest, study quiz, etc.)

Customize: skills over Gems

A Customize area adds Discover (skills replacing Gems, activated with @ instead of /) and a Connectors tab that modernizes Connected Apps—including an “Uninstall” overflow action. 9to5Google likens it to a mini app store inside Gemini.

Settings hub

Profile/gear opens a regrouped Settings: account + usage limits first, then Preferences (notifications, Personal Intelligence, avatar, Gem manager, theme, voice, media, device controls, Notebook), Data & privacy, and Support.

Rollout caveat

The redesign was seen on one Google account on both Android and iOS—explicitly not yet widely rolled out. Do not treat every account as updated.

What did not change

9to5Google notes the homepage itself is largely unchanged; the work is navigation chrome—side panel, Customize, and Settings. Skills discoverability via @ (instead of Gemini Spark’s slash) is the behavioral shift power users will feel first when wiring connectors and third-party apps.

Settings regrouping worth knowing

Preferences now cluster notifications, Personal Intelligence, avatar, Gem manager, theme, voice, media, device controls, and Gemini Notebook. Data & privacy groups import memory, on-device contacts, Apps Activity, public links, and a Privacy Help Hub. Support sits last (Help, Report a problem, About, Updates). Until Google widens the rollout, treat screenshots as preview, not universal UI.

Scheduled suggestions called out by 9to5Google include creating a news digest or building a study quiz—small UX tells that Google wants recurring agentic chores inside the mobile shell, not only one-shot chats. Connectors’ “Uninstall” wording underlines the app-store metaphor.

Rocks take

Concrete UI shipping notes for power users; distinct from Copilot Home / OpenAI Dots launches. Source: 9to5Google.

FAQ

Are Gems gone? Skills are positioned as the replacement in Customize; Gem manager still appears under Preferences in the reported build.

Desktop Gemini? Report covers Android/iOS app chrome.