The shortcuts appearing near the top of the Feed recently added to the Google Android app are removable, one user has discovered earlier this month, noting how the method itself still isn’t particularly intuitive. As seen in the screenshot below, the scrollable carousel of shortcuts actually allows you to start dragging individual icons and subsequently drop them into a “Remove” bubble that will appear as soon as you long-press any shortcut. That’s pretty much everything the method entails at the moment, as rearranging shortcuts currently isn’t possible and dropping them anywhere else will simply have them revert back to their original position. The Alphabet-owned company hasn’t publicized this mechanism in any capacity so far and none of its support pages seemingly mention its existence, making it unclear why the feature was added in the first place; its relatively limited nature suggests it’s still a work in progress and the manner in which it functions likely isn’t something that users can realistically be expected to discover on their own.
The drag-and-drop removal method outlined above only works on the Google Feed itself and not the section of the app outlining all service shortcuts. Removing an icon from the shortcut carousel also seems to be a permanent change as of this writing, with the app apparently having no options for re-adding the previously scrapped icons. All of them are still available from the aforementioned collection menu that can be accessed by scrolling to the end of the carousel and tapping the blue “View All” button that pops up behind the final item. The default carousel features shortcuts for weather and location, hospitality services, entertainment, and sports, in that order, though not all users currently have access to it.
The Google app itself is still somewhat fragmented in terms of features, with the Mountain View, California-based company often conducting limited tests of experimental functionalities in certain regions with server-side switches. The internet giant has been employing the same development strategy for many years now and is unlikely to significantly change it in the near future. It’s presently unclear which territories have access to the shortcut carousel, though you can check whether you’re eligible to use the feature by downloading the latest version of the Google app from the banner below.