Google has chosen to drop the tappable shortcuts feature the search engine had released about a year ago in the Google search app. That feature was aimed at giving users a quick and easy way to access Google features without having to search for them.
Andy B. from the Google Search & Assistant team wrote in a Google help thread that the feature was indeed removed to give more prominence to the new feed experience in the search app. This was to make it “easier than ever to discover and explore what matters to you,” he said.
Andy B. wrote:
Andy from Google here — first of all, many thanks for your reports and feedback. I wanted to first confirm that this is an intentional feature change. As we move to the new feed experience for the Search app, which makes it easier than ever to discover and explore what matters to you, we’ve decided to remove the shortcuts feature.
We’re constantly working to improve the experience though, so please continue to leave in-app feedback.
Google is always trying new features, user interfaces and experiments, and it should come as no shock that Google removed a prominent feature in their search app if they feel it was not used much.
The following is a video of the feature when launched last March: