New Google Chat redesign widely rolling out on Android [U]

Abner Li | Jan 17 2024 - 8:49 pm PT

With the new icon widely rolled out, Google Chat’s homescreen redesign is now making its way to Android.

Update 1/17/24: We’re now seeing much wider availability of the redesigned Google Chat. The rollout has ramped up in recent days and we now have it on all our devices after force closing the standalone Chat app and Gmail. (In the latter app, the homescreen widget has also been updated to just feature two tabs in the pseudo-bottom bar.)

You still have to manually enable the “Chat” tab from Gmail Settings > your email address > General. Unlike Meet, Google never rolled out the integrated Google Chat experience to all users.

Original 12/19/23: In the standalone Google Chat app, the two-tab bottom bar and “New” FAB — as seen below — have been replaced.

Instead of tabs for Chat and Spaces, you now have Home, Direct messages, Spaces, and Mentions in a pill-shaped container.

A circular indicator notes what tab you’re currently viewing. (A nice touch would have been having the circle glide/animate through as you switch between feeds.) There are no labels underneath each icon, but you can find that information at the top of your screen below the search bar. Thankfully, the Google Chat icons are pretty straightforward.

Meanwhile, there’s a rounded square FAB to the right of the pill that is ever so slightly smaller. These two elements are centered.

In Gmail, this floating pill appears above the existing bottom bar, which has been consolidated to three tabs. While this navigation approach is fine in the dedicated app, the integrated Gmail experience looks rather busy.

This redesign first rolled out to Google Chat and Gmail for iOS, as well as the web. On Android, it’s slowly appearing on an account-by-account basis with a server-side update. We’re seeing it on a personal Google Account today.