13-05-2025
Google's New Look On iPhone Raises More Questions Than It Answers
Close your eyes and imagine the Google logo, that big, capital G in four colors. Take your time, I'll wait. Done it? Chances are you could see the G very clearly, with the big expanse of red at the top, a puny yellow chunk, a bigger green and finally the blue that sits in the squared-off bit. That's just changed.
The change is subtle but considerable, and it's definitely for the better, I'd say. Until now, the color segments were discrete and blocky, the uneven sizes leading some (I mean me) to wonder what it all meant.
Now, at a stroke, Google has fixed it. The colors still sit in the same configuration in the G, but now each color blends into the next. Not only is this more pleasing to look at generally, it goes a long way to evening out the distribution of the colors, giving the new logo a much better sense of balance overall, I'd say.
The Google app icon for iPhone, until now.
David Phelan
It arrived on my iPhone 16 Pro Max yesterday when I updated the app (interestingly, the app update details made no mention of the new logo) and is coming to Android phones now.
But it raises more questions than it answers.
What will happen to the other Google logos, for Google Home, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive and others? They all have carefully partitioned color sections and have led some users to complain that it's hard to tell them apart at a quick glance.
Adding the same color bleed to the existing app icons won't help in that regard, but is Google maybe taking the opportunity to dream up something all-new for the others?
After all, Google Gemini is now a member of the band, and has its own, distinct, blue-only logo. Could this lead to Gmail going back to being an all-red logo, something that many users missed when it switched to the four-color design?
Google hasn't said anything about the other apps, and they haven't been updated yet, or rather, the latest Google Maps update hasn't changed the logo at all.
More as we have it.
