Unsurprisingly, the Phone by Google dialer app is losing its nearby location search feature on Android. Google announced the change at the beginning of February, and the decision is now being implemented.
As noted by 9to5google, the ability to search for businesses in the Phone by Google app has been removed. Instead of the “Search Contacts and Places” field at the top of the app, Google has added a “Search Contacts” field that allows users to search for contacts rather than places.
Not only that, but it looks like “Nearby Places” has been completely removed from the settings, but that makes sense since this feature was supposed to use your location when searching for places.
According to Google, the decision to remove nearby places search was based on the fact that “only very few people use this feature.” In addition, Google claims that “the vast majority of users go to Google search or maps when looking for business-related phone numbers.”
When it revealed the change to the Phone by Google app, the search giant said the feature would be removed “in the coming months.” Well, it looks like the latest update turns the words into reality, so expect to lose this feature very soon if you haven’t already.