Google Pay (GPay) rolling out Material You redesign [U]

Abner Li | Feb 15 2023 - 8:44 am PT

The GPay app, which was once the future of Google’s payments strategy, is still available for users in three countries and is getting some Material You tweaks.

Update 2/15/23: Version 171.1.4 of GPay has widely rolled out via the Play Store and we’re now seeing the Material You redesign.

There’s one bottom bar tweak compared to last year. You’ll now only see a text label for the current tab.

Original 12/5/22: From the beginning, GPay had a rather unique bottom bar that was fluid. Besides highlighting the current tab in blue and showing a text label, there was a bugle-like indicator at the top.

GPay is now switching to a standard Material You bottom bar that is tall and makes use of pill-shaped indicators. Dynamic Color is not leveraged yet. Just a blue accent color used. This change makes the app a little less fun but does modernize it.

There are a few other button and sizing tweaks (slightly larger search field up top), but the app otherwise remains the same.

The old “new Google Pay” app getting an update, albeit small, is an interesting sign. When Google Wallet launched, the company said GPay would remain available in the three countries where it launched. (Wallet is also not available in India.) Google killing the money-spending tracking/”Insights” would certainly result in an uproar from the people who have been using GPay in the intended way.

Some users are seeing GPay’s Material You redesign with version 167.1.5, though there is a server-side component that’s not yet widely rolled out.