Material Design

Google teased Material 3 Expressive for Photos last month, and one part of it — a redesign of the albums view — is now live on Android. QR code sharing for albums is also now available following last week’s announcement.

Material 3 Expressive was officially unveiled last week at The Android Show, with Google releasing guidance at that time. At I/O 2025, we had a “Build next-level UX with Material 3 Expressive” session with another tease at upcoming Google app redesigns, like Fitbit.

With Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, Google is redesigning Quick Settings on Pixel with resizable tiles and a background blur.

With Material 3 Expressive, Google is making a push for bottom controls in apps with toolbars. This new component displays “frequently used actions relevant to the current page.”

The video introducing Google’s new design language starts with a pull-to-refresh animation that turns “Material 3” into “Material 3 Expressive,” with the sequence introducing the new loading indicator.

Google released new and updated components for Material 3 Expressive, with several changes that impact what’s recommended for navigation in apps.

At The Android Show, we saw Material 3 Expressive for Android 16 and Wear OS 6. Google also shared early looks at Material 3 Expressive redesigns for first-party apps on Android.

Ahead of this month’s announcement, Google accidentally published a blog post detailing the thinking and research behind Material 3 Expressive.

Ahead of Material 3 Expressive’s debut at I/O 2025 later this month, a redesign of the Google Clock app has emerged.

In addition to the iPhone, Google is rolling out a convenient Gemini homescreen widget for Android that follows Material 3.

Ahead of Material Design’s next evolution, let’s review Material You through the lens of first-party Google apps on Android. Specifically, I want to look at the adoption of Material 3 components, color, and adaptive layouts.

After testing earlier this year, Google is now widely rolling out a Material 3 redesign of Gmail on iPhone and iPad. 

With Google sharing I/O 2025 sessions list this morning, we have a closer look at what to expect for Android at the developer conference.

Play Books was one of the last Google apps to get a Material You redesign in February of 2024, and it now has Dynamic Color theming.

Google Meet is redesigning some controls on Android and iOS, with the goal to “organize features in a more intuitive way.” 

Compared to Android, only some of Google’s iOS apps use the latest version of Material Design. Gmail for iPhone and iPad was finally updated with a Material 3 redesign today.

Despite the big Material You redesign happening in 2022, the Google Home app did not adopt Dynamic Color, though that’s finally changing.

Google is testing a Material 3 redesign of the Discover feed to the left of Android homescreens and in the Google app.

The vast majority of Google apps have updated their bottom bar to the latest Material 3 design. The Google (Search) app did that last year before reverting, and it’s now back. 

Following Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, Google Calendar on the web is getting a Material You redesign that finally adds a dark theme.

On the web, Google Drive, along with Gmail, has one of the better applications of Material You, and it’s now getting a “smoother, more modern video player.”