Google Messages gets Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS before Android
TL;DR Google Messages is the latest Wear OS app to receive Google's Material 3 Expressive redesign.
The update brings more consistent coloring, slight changes to shapes, and new icons to complement text.
Google may be testing the update with a small set of users, since it has yet to reach a wider audience.
Google has already begun transitioning many of its apps to the new, more fluid and vivid Material 3 Expressive design philosophy. These changes haven't been limited to Android phones or tablets and have also extended to other Google platforms, including Wear OS, where Google now appears to be rolling out the updated design theme to another app.
Google Messages is the latest Wear OS app to be updated with Material 3 Expressive elements. Among the chief changes we see here are more integrated UI elements, mainly including color-filled buttons and slightly tinted message blobs. Some buttons, including those for options in a list, are also shaped more dynamically to suggest a scrollable nature. Meanwhile, blobs for messages and conversations also assume a less rounded shape.
Additionally, we now see text on some buttons accompanied by icons. Here's a look at the Material 3 Expressive theme on Google Messages:
Buttons grouped together also have an outline under them, suggesting that they may have similar or complementary functions. You can see that on buttons for quick replies, including separate buttons for emoji, voice typing, and a full-sized keyboard, which appear unified with an outline below them. Meanwhile, the older design simply puts these buttons in a single row.
We were notified of these changes by Telegram user jolivekoffi, who found them on their Pixel Watch 3. The interface changes to the Messages app on Wear OS were also corroborated by my colleague, Rita El Khoury. However, some others at Android Authority, including my colleague AssembleDebug and myself, haven't received the updates despite running the latest version of the app, suggesting that this could be either a server-side rollout or intended for specific watch models.
Google Messages is the latest to join the roster of Wear OS apps to have received the new, but also polarizing, design. Calendar, Keep, Gmail, and the recently released Gemini app for Wear OS are other Google apps that have already been updated with fresher visuals on smartwatches. Meanwhile, Google is also testing the redesign for Messages on Android, but these changes are currently limited to beta users.
Follow
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
From Phishing To 'Quishing': The Sneaky New QR Code Scam Targeting 26 Million Americans
When QR codes first hit the scene, they were a niche tool, employed by factories to track inventory or by museums to offer visitors unique interactive experiences. The pandemic made them more ubiquitous, and they can now be found everywhere from air travel to parking payments. QR codes make our lives easier in a number of ways, but unfortunately, they also seem poised to make it a lot harder. As their popularity has risen, scammers have started to eye them as their next target for exploitation. Don't Miss: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can Accredited Investors: Grab Pre-IPO Shares of the AI Company Powering Hasbro, Sephora & MGM— "As with many technological advances that start with good intentions, QR codes have increasingly become targets for malicious use. Because they are everywhere — from gas pumps and yard signs to television commercials — they're simultaneously useful and dangerous," BlueVoyant Senior Director of Proactive Cybersecurity Services Dustin Brewer told CNBC. Brewer told the network that hackers are using the codes to trick unsuspecting people into visiting malicious websites or giving away sensitive personal information. This type of scam is called "quishing." Quishing appeals to scammers because of how easy it is to execute. There are plenty of free QR code generators online, and all it takes is slapping one on a sticker at a parking meter or slipping a pre-printed letter into your mailbox to get things going. Trending: $100k+ in investable assets? – no cost, no obligation. "The crooks are relying on you being in a hurry and you needing to do something," University of Rochester electrical and computer engineering professor Gaurav Sharma told CNBC. As safeguards have been put into place to crack down on the number of traditional phishing e-mails going around, and as consumers wisen up to old-school text and phone scams, crooks have had to get creative with their tactics. And get creative, they are. NordVPN told CNBC that 73% of Americans scan QR codes without verifying their authenticity. This has led to upwards of 26 million people being directed to malicious sites. Part of the reason quishing scams are so successful is that we aren't yet well-versed in how to recognize them. A report published by the cybersecurity platform KeepNet found that only 36% of quishing scams have been accurately identified and reported."The cat and mouse game of security will continue and that people will figure out solutions and the crooks will either figure out a way around or look at other places where the grass is greener," Sharma told CNBC. Companies are working to fortify QR codes against intrusion, and to educate the public on how to spot potential scams that use the codes, but say there's still a long way to go. "QR codes weren't built with security in mind, they were built to make life easier, which also makes them perfect for scammers," Rob Lee, chief of research and chief of AI at SANS Institute, told CNBC. "We've seen this playbook before with phishing emails; now it just comes with a smiley pixelated square. It's not panic-worthy yet, but it's exactly the kind of low-effort, high-return tactic attackers love to scale." Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article From Phishing To 'Quishing': The Sneaky New QR Code Scam Targeting 26 Million Americans originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Digital Trends
27 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
Apple is eyeing a ChatGPT-like search, but it must focus beyond Siri
It's no secret that Apple is currently struggling to deliver a smash-hit AI product, the way Google has served with Gemini, or Microsoft has achieved with Copilot. The company has been trying a similar overhaul with Siri, but those plans have been beset by delays, and it is only expected to see the light of day in late 2026. The delay spooked Apple to such an extent that the company inked a stopgap deal with OpenAI, which helped integrate ChatGPT with Siri, and broadly, with the Apple Intelligence stack. But it seems Apple is working on a radical in-house solution, one that would essentially be a watered-down approach to ChatGPT, but with internet search capabilities. Siri, but flavored like ChatGPT Lite? According to Bloomberg, a newly formed Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) team at Apple is working on a ChatGPT-inspired search framework for Siri. 'While still in early stages, the team is building what it calls an 'answer engine' — a system capable of crawling the web to respond to general-knowledge questions,' says the report. In addition to Siri, Apple reportedly plans to integrate the search functionality within Spotlight and Safari, as well. Spotlight has already received a massive functional upgrade in macOS Tahoe, so it won't be surprising to see it evolve into a universal answering hotspot, one that covers local data and information sourced from the internet. Recommended Videos It may sound chaotic at first, but it's not entirely alien. How does Siri, Spotlight, or Safari know when I want an AI to answer my query, or launch a web Search? Well, look no further than Dia. The universal search box in the AI-focused browser dynamically switches between 'chat' and 'Google' mode as you type your search keywords. When you type 'Birkin bag' in the text field, it defaults to web search mode. But as you type 'where to buy a Birkin bag,' the search field automatically switches to chat mode and offers the answer, just the way ChatGPT or any other AI answering engine like Perplexity would handle your questions. Right now, when you summon Siri on your iPhone and ask it a question that requires searching the internet or just pulling knowledge from an information bank, it opens a prompt box asking whether the question can be offloaded to ChatGPT. Once you agree, ChatGPT kicks into action and offers the required information. Of course, it's not seamless. With Siri gaining web search capabilities and enhanced natural language comprehension (akin to a ChatGPT or Gemini), it would be much easier for users to simply ask anything they want and get it answered. In its current state, Siri feels like a relic of the past, especially when compared to products such as Google's Gemini Live or ChatGPT's voice mode. In fact, Gemini works better on iPhones than Siri. As far as Apple's plans go, building something as advanced as ChatGPT or Gemini seems like a far-fetched goal. As per Bloomberg, plans for 'LLM Siri' have kept running into delays, and the recent exodus of top AI talent casts more doubts over Apple's ambitions of reimagining Siri for the AI era. It's not just about a phone assistant Building a next-gen virtual assistant – just the way Google Assistant has evolved into Gemini, or Copilot at Microsoft – is not the only area where Apple is currently lagging far behind the competition. In fact, Big Tech is now as focused as much on chatbots as it is on web browsers. Agentic workflows are now being seen as the next big thing in the field of AI. In a recent interview, co-founder and chief of Perplexity, Aravind Srinivas, explained why browsers are more suitable for AI than AI chatbots and apps: 'You get full transparency and visibility, and you can just stop the agent when you feel like it's going off the rails and just complete the task yourself, and you can also have the agent ask for your permission to do anything. So that level of control, transparency, trust in an environment that we are used to for multiple decades, which is the browser.' Unfortunately, Apple is severely lagging behind in the browser wars. With the introduction of AI Mode in Search and deeply integrating Gemini across its Workspace ecosystem, Google has changed how deeply AI can change web browsing and web-based workflows. Safari desperately needs an AI overhaul Upstart browsers such as Dia and Perplexity's Comet have proved that the era of legacy tools such as extensions is coming to an end. Soon, skills and custom agents will take over. Less than a week ago, Microsoft introduced Copilot Mode in Edge. I have spent a few days with the new AI-powered tools in Edge, and I believe it's a bold (and dramatically more practical) new direction for web browsers. In comparison, Safari misses out on any such AI-driven experiences. From a context-aware sidebar to multi-tab contextual actions, Apple's browser is sorely missing out on the conveniences that AI is bringing to modern age web browsers. Assuming Apple succeeds at building its own ChatGPT-like answer engine, it would take a massive undertaking to build meaningful features around it in Safari. Right now, what Apple needs to do is not just build an answering engine, but pay close attention to the competition. I am sure Apple is monitoring the shifting landscape of AI agents and browsers. It simply has to pick up pace, or as CEO Tim Cook hinted at in a recent all-hands meeting, the company 'will make the investment to do it.' Will Apple acquire a hot AI lab like Perplexity or Anthropic? Only time will tell, but the company certainly has to take a more holistic approach with AI than just focus on building the next great AI chatbot.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Veteran fund manager turns heads with new Meta Platforms stock price target
Veteran fund manager turns heads with new Meta Platforms stock price target originally appeared on TheStreet. On any given day, nearly half the world is on Meta Platforms () . The parent of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp, Meta has dramatically changed the way we live — for better or worse. 💵💰Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter 💰💵 The Menlo Park, Calif., social media giant is moving aggressively with artificial intelligence into areas that some people find just a bit spooky. "Over the last few months, we've begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves, and the improvement is slow for now but undeniable," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said during the second-quarter earnings call. "And developing superintelligence, which we define as AI that surpasses human intelligence in every way, we think is now in sight." To build this future, Zuckerberg said the company had set up Meta Superintelligence Labs, "which includes our foundations, product, and fair teams as well as a new lab that is focused on developing the next generation of our models." Meta CEO says AI creating greater efficiency The company seems to be on the right track. Meta Platforms handily beat Wall Street's quarterly forecasts and the stock is up nearly 52% this year. Zuckerberg said the quarter's strong performance stemmed largely from "AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ad system." More AI Stocks: Google plans major AI shift after Meta's surprising $14 billion move Meta delivers eye-popping AI announcement Veteran trader surprises with Palantir price target and comments Chris Versace, TheStreet Pro portfolio's lead manager, liked what he heard from Zuck & Co. and boosted his price target for Meta shares to $850 from $725. "The hike in our target reflects a combination of a few factors, including the company's still expanding reach, advertising gains, and improving monetization efforts," he said. With trade tensions appearing to cool as the Trump administration announces deals and other conversations are extended, Versace said, "the reduced uncertainty tied to an economy that is still expanding should foster more normalized advertising spend." "In that environment, we continue to see Meta benefiting, especially as advertisers continue to shift increasingly toward digital platforms," he said. "They also want to tap the 3.48 billion in daily active people across all of Meta's platforms vs. 3.27 billion at the end of June 2024." While many were in awe of the company's impressive top- and bottom-line beats, Versace said the year-over-year five-percentage-point improvement in its consolidated operating margin caught his eye. "We should see further improvement in the second half of 2025, but higher expenses will be a headwind as Meta invests further in AI capacity and talent," he noted. "However, we see this as another instance of the company investing today to drive its business and profits higher in the coming quarters." Fund manager: Capital spending at ludicrous levels The future ain't gonna come cheap. Meta, Amazon () , Alphabet () and Microsoft () are set to spend as much as a cumulative $364 billion in their respective 2025 fiscal years, up from their prior estimates of around $325 billion. Meta narrowed its 2025 capital-spending outlook to a range of $66 billion to $72 billion, up $30 billion year over year at the midpoint, Versace investment firms also noted Meta's capital expenditures, including Scotiabank, which raised its price target on the company's shares to $685 from $675 and affirmed a sector-perform rating on the shares. Meta posted its largest beat in several years, and the revenue comparison in fiscal Q1 2026 against the year-earlier period looks "much easier," the firm said, according to The Fly. However, the firm said it remains on the sidelines until it sees the company progress on profiting from its higher capital expenditures while also outpacing the hit to earnings. Doug Kass, a longtime hedge-fund manager and TheStreet Pro contributor, picked up on the capex issue in a lengthy comment on X. "META has burned through $30 billion in the last two quarters," he wrote. "Cash is now down to $12 billion" and "the capital and operating expense are now becoming a burden - nearly all of depreciation schedules [are] an absolute joke." Kass called the amount of capital spending "ludicrous ... in part because of the accounting gimmicks that hide its true cost. "At some point this will start getting into the numbers, even with the gimmicks," he said. "And I still do not know where all the space, power, water, and even ancillary equipment will be found for all of this. There is only so much stuff the air conditioning manufacturers can make!" Kass cited Amazon's latest earnings report, noting that "the capital expense is starting to bite and hit the numbers." "Margins at [Amazon Web Services] are finally starting to feel it, and they disappointed," he added. "Growth was nothing to write home about either. That is why the stock is selling off."Veteran fund manager turns heads with new Meta Platforms stock price target first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 3, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
