{"id":606056,"date":"2026-09-20T08:42:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T08:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606056\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T08:42:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T08:42:27","slug":"sidekick-in-google-play-games-is-now-easier-to-trigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606056\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidekick in Google Play Games is now easier to trigger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Google<\/p>\n

Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

Add Android Authority on Google: <\/p>\n

TL;DR<\/p>\n

Google is giving the Sidekick overlay in Play Games a handy update that lets you activate it via the notifications panel.
\nThis new option sits alongside the existing onscreen drag handle to enable the Sidekick overlay.
\nWe have also spotted an under-development double-tap-based activation method for Sidekick, though it\u2019s unclear when it will be available.<\/p>\n

Google finally gave Play Games a big upgrade last year<\/a>, including an in-game overlay called Sidekick. This overlay lets you instantly view achievements, get input on the game with Gemini Live, take screenshots\/screen recordings, and more. Activating Sidekick in supported games currently requires users to drag the handle that appears on the right or left of the screen. The Play Store is now adding a new activation method for this gamer-centric feature, and might have another in the works.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading an Authority Insights<\/a> story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won\u2019t find anywhere else.<\/p>\n

While the existing Sidekick drag handle works as intended, its placement isn\u2019t ideal for certain games, especially FPS or some arcade titles. The Play Store is adding a new \u201cConfigure Sidekick access\u201d option in Settings > General > Google Play Games, which includes an \u201cOpen only from notifications\u201d option, alongside the existing \u201cOpen only within games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing this new option removes the onscreen drag handle and lets you activate Sidekick via the notifications panel, enabling a distraction-free gaming experience. We\u2019re seeing this across multiple Play Store versions, which indicates it could be part of a server-side rollout. But that\u2019s not all.<\/p>\n

Digging into version 53.1.23 of the Play Store, we can give you an early look at another way to trigger the on-screen drag handle that could greatly reduce accidental Sidekick activations.<\/p>\n

\"Play\"Play<\/p>\n

As the screenshots above show, a future update could let you configure a double-tap system for this handle, wherein tapping the handle once displays a \u201cDouble-tap to open\u201d onscreen prompt. The handle itself gets a revised circle icon to distinguish it from the standard drag handle.<\/p>\n

This would let gamers keep the onscreen drag handle experience without worrying about accidentally activating it. Since this is under development, it\u2019s still difficult to say when (or if) it might be incorporated into Play Games, but we\u2019d be happy to see it arrive.<\/p>\n

Thanks to @catat2am on Telegram!<\/p>\n

\u26a0\ufe0f An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.<\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Maring \/ Android Authority Add Android Authority on Google: TL;DR Google is giving the Sidekick overlay in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[8255,35785,25027,342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-606056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-authority-insights","tag-google-play-games","tag-google-play-store","tag-mobile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}