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Google Arts & Culture adds Material Theme bottom bar and Camera tab for AR features

Google Arts & Culture often leverages augmented reality to share works through viral features like Art Selfies and Pocket Gallery. The Android and iOS app was updated this week with a new Camera tab that makes all these AR features easily accessible.

Version 7.0 of Google Arts & Culture on Android features a new bottom bar that leverages the Material Theme. The bar is animated with switching sections highlighting the icon and adding a text label below it. Arts & Culture is primarily a web view, with the app’s main sections featuring various Material Theme elements. However, other navigation in the app has yet to be updated and leverages old icons.

Home, Explore, Nearby, and Profile is still accessible from the navigation drawer, but the main addition is the new Camera tab. Users can quickly access and launch various visual features that Google Arts & Culture launched over the years, including:

  • Art Selfie: Discover portraits that look like you
  • Color Palette: Find art by using the colors of your photo
  • Art Projector: See how artworks look in real size
  • Pocket Gallery: View all of Vermeer’s artworks in an immersive exhibition

Pocket Gallery launched in December and allows users to explore the Dutch master’s work in a virtual exhibition space, while Art Projector is another AR feature that allows viewers to see what pieces look like in real-life and in actual scale.

Art Selfie was a viral hit last year that allowed people to see what painting they looked like, and Color Palette is a similar matching tool. The former was a particular hit that allowed users to then share results on social media.

Version 7.0 of Google Arts & Culture is widely rolling out now via the Play Store.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com