Google Docs app tests Material Theme w/ some users on Android

Ben Schoon | Jun 18 2019 - 10:10 am PT

Google’s Material Theme has solely been making its way out to the company’s various Android apps, and it seems the latest is Google Docs. Some users are currently seeing a new interface takeover the app on Android.

First reported by Android Police, this test of the Material Theme UI seems to be heading out to some Google Docs users on Android as a limited server-side change. Immediately obvious in the updated version is the lack of a blue bar at the top, the older Google account switcher, and overall white theme to the entire application. There’s no sign of a dark mode for now, though.

Diving further into the app, Google Sans is present throughout with all of the app’s menus also getting redesigned. The templates page swaps a dark theme for a white one too. The document editor itself, however, doesn’t seem to have been changed much.

Notably, this is the first app in this suite to get the redesign following the Google Drive app which started getting the refreshed design a few months ago. As mentioned, this seems to be a limited rollout, so not everyone will see it. So far, reports of the new design being live are stemming from version 1.19.232.05 of the app, live now on Google Play. Hopefully, we’ll see a wider rollout soon, as well as the same refreshed UI on Google Slides and Sheets.