Google Weather readies Material Theme redesign, new menu

Kyle Bradshaw | May 21 2021 - 3:22 pm PT

For years, Google’s “Weather” applet on Android has used a fairly straightforward design with elements from the original 2014 Material Design. Now, Google Weather is in the process of being updated to be more in line with the Google Material Theme.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

Google Search on Android is home to numerous sub-apps, such as Google Podcasts, Assistant Interpreter Mode, and Weather. With the latest Google Search beta update, version 12.19, we were able to enable the beginnings of a redesign for the Weather applet.

In the old Weather design, Material Design is strongly at play, with a squared-off search bar and a navigation drawer. With the new Material Theming redesign, the search bar has been given rounded corners, and the Weather applet’s few settings moved into an account menu, similar to the Google Play Store.

Otherwise, the remaining changes are far more subtle, such as a Material Theming style tab bar and more noticeable shadows on some of the text.

The timing of this particular redesign is interesting, considering just this week, Google unveiled its new “Material You” design language, set to supersede Material Theming.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.