Google Material Theme starts rolling out to Google Search on mobile web

After rolling out late last month to Google Search on the desktop web, the Google Material Theme is beginning to appear on the mobile counterpart. This similar redesign features modern elements like a pill-shaped search field that is available on both the results page and homepage.

On the mobile web, the Google Material Theme is already available on the google.com homepage. This is in contrast to the still un-updated homepage on the desktop web.

This new design features a pill-shaped bar that replaces the previous rectangular box with only slightly rounded corners. Like before, the blue search button that features a magnifying glass icon is incorporated into the right side of the field.

A navigation drawer to access Collections, Settings, Your data in Search, and more is available in the top-left corner and persists on the results page.

On this view, the Material Theme is again characterized by the rounded search field and tweaked carousel of category filters for image, news, and video search. Instead of the query box and carousel floating above the page, it is now part of the app bar and merged with the Google logo and hamburger icon above.

Unlike on the desktop web, this bar is not docked to the top of the screen when users scroll down. Users have to return to the top in order to start a new query or access any top navigation.

The Google Material Theme is not as drastic on mobile as Google has been adding more and more new elements in slow increments. For example, the “More results” button is already pill-shaped with a faint outline. Meanwhile, others — like Knowledge Panels — have yet to be fully updated.

Additionally, compared to the desktop counterpart, more users have seen the Material Theme through A/B tests in recent weeks. However, as of this evening, it appears to be more widely rolled out on both Android and iOS browsers across multiple devices we’ve checked. This update is not yet available on the Google Search for Android, and comes as the updated Google Discover began rolling out this morning.

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