Google app gets big Material You redesign from bottom bar to settings
Last November, we previewed a Material You redesign of the Google app, and it’s now rolling out on Android.Â
Expand Expanding CloseLast November, we previewed a Material You redesign of the Google app, and it’s now rolling out on Android.Â
Expand Expanding CloseWhile Search results and the Discover feed are visually tweaked from time to time, other parts of the Google app are often slow to change. Fortunately, Google is now working on a Material You redesign of the Search app.
Expand Expanding CloseBack in 2018, Google introduced a customizable Search widget and is now making those personalization options more apparent by supporting the changes introduced in Android 12+.
Expand Expanding CloseIn a curious change, the Google Search app and Discover on Android no longer opens sites in fullscreen, but rather makes use of a sheet.
Expand Expanding CloseWith Google Calendar set to lose Assistant Reminders, you’ll be forced to use the very basic and incredibly laggy UI that’s part of the Google app. It’s still bad, but Google recently rolled out some usability tweaks to Reminders and restored the dark mode.
Expand Expanding CloseGoogle’s adorable Weather Frog started wearing a face mask in August of 2020. Earlier this week, the protective equipment was removed from the character that appears in Google’s Search app on Android.
Expand Expanding CloseLast month, Google updated At a Glance with flashlight reminders and Nest Doorbell alerts. The Pixel At a Glance widget could soon get a “Cross Device Timer” capability that integrates with Google Home.
Expand Expanding CloseFor quite some time, the Google Weather app could only be found on Android phones, but it’s now coming to tablets.
Expand Expanding CloseNearly two years after the last settings redesign, Google is taking another stab at making it easier to control and manage the ever-growing list of what Assistant can do.
Expand Expanding CloseFollowing the ongoing removal of Assistant Snapshot on Android, the Google for iOS app looks to be adding a “Notifications” tab.
Expand Expanding CloseSimilar to desktop Search changes last week, the Google app on Android has been updated with a darker dark theme as part of today’s beta.
Expand Expanding CloseWith the first beta channel release of 2022, the Google app introduced a bug that sees its Chrome Custom Tab break and all web pages open in your default browser on Android.
Expand Expanding CloseIn addition to a bottom field, the Google app is testing a Search bar that appears at the very top of your screen. It matches other first-party apps, but it is a departure from what Google Search has looked like on mobile for the past several years.
Expand Expanding CloseWith the Pixel 2, the Pixel Launcher was revamped to place the search field at the bottom of your screen. Four years later, the Google app looks to be readying something similar with a bottom Search bar redesign.
Expand Expanding CloseAssistant Snapshot carries forward the legacy of Google Now, though its prominence is diminished compared to the previous feed. Its standing might be further de-prioritized following a pair of worrisome changes to Snapshot in the Google app and Assistant.
Expand Expanding CloseWhile the latest Google app beta introduced some nice updates to the Weather widgets, it also hampered At a Glance in the Pixel Launcher. Namely, it launches the original Google Weather experience instead of the redesign.
Expand Expanding CloseIn July of last year, we spotted development of an “Assistant Chat Head” that never ended up launching. Google is now working on a more useful “Search bubble” chat head that provides quick access to text and voice lookup.
Expand Expanding CloseIn a very welcome change from what we previously expected, the Google Weather Material You widgets are now live on existing Pixel phones with the latest Google app beta.
Expand Expanding CloseThe Google app recently lost its “More” tab for a unified panel when opening the account switcher. That new settings menu can now be accessed in the Google Discover feed to the left of the Pixel Launcher.
Expand Expanding CloseWhile Discover and Assistant Snapshot have gone through a handful of visual revamps in recent years, the rest of the Google app has remained the same. Google is now testing a settings redesign on Android that removes the “More” tab.
Expand Expanding CloseFollowing the big update in August, Google Podcasts for Android is getting a straightforward Material You redesign, though it’s not yet widely rolled out.
Expand Expanding CloseGoogle has been working on an in-app browser for Search on Android for quite sometime now. After being widely rolled out to the beta channel for the past few months, it has disappeared and reverted to Chrome Custom Tabs.
Expand Expanding CloseAfter redesigning the Weather app, Google’s next step is introducing Android 12 homescreen widgets. We enabled the first one last week, and the second Google widget coming is straight from the Pixel 6’s Material You advertising.
Expand Expanding CloseGoogle is continuing to add more settings to the Search app on Android with a new preference to control “Personal results.”
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