Google Chat rolling out new icon, redesigned ‘Home’ and ‘Mentions’ navigation

Abner Li | Nov 9 2023 - 11:52 am PT

As we spotted over the weekend, Google Chat is getting a new icon, as well as redesigned navigation on the web app with dedicated views for “Home” and “Mentions.”

This new icon adopts the four-color style of every other Google Workspace logo. (Keep, Tasks, and Voice are technically only adjacent to Workspace). Green is the predominant color in a possible homage to Hangouts.

Google says this new Chat icon “reflects the central role of business messaging and collaboration in Workspace.” It is rolling out “over the coming weeks” in the top-left corner of the website and mobile apps.

Meanwhile, as announced at Cloud Next ’23 in August, Google Chat has a “redesigned navigation panel.” “Shortcuts” are the big addition, with “Home” designed to help “you quickly catch up on any new activity across all conversations in a single location.” You can filter this feed by Unread and Threads, while a dropdown lets you sort by Recency.

“Mentions” let you quickly see “messages addressed specifically to you.” Besides @-mentions, this view will display images and file chips inline. Like in Home, tapping a message will “bring you directly to the conversation or thread where you can respond.”

“Each row represents the message within the thread that mentions you.”
“If you are mentioned multiple times in a conversation, each mention will show up as one row.”
“Unread messages are highlighted in light blue and include a blue dot.”

Google Chat has also tweaked the side navigation panel sections for Direct messages and Spaces, which remain collapsible. This is rolling out starting today and will be fully available in the coming weeks for “all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts.”

The company has yet to share how the mobile apps will be redesigned, but we’ve caught a glimpse before.