Latest news with #Material3
Phone Arena
a day ago
- Phone Arena
Check the Calendar. It's time for this app to get its Material 3 Expressive makeover
If you're looking for a date and go to apps like Tinder or eHarmony, it's possible that you're looking on the wrong app. After all, no app has access to more dates than Google Calendar. And now the Android version of the app is going through its Material 3 Expressive redesign. While some of the changes are hard to find, you can really see the new look in the Month view, where the days are separated with rounded corners as opposed to the straight lines used in the previous version. Also in the Month view, the Google Calendar Material 3 Expressive redesign uses the Dynamic Color feature to bring in colors that are prominent in your phone's wallpaper. Days of the week that need more letters to spell correctly are now abbreviated. The redesigned Monthly view of Google Calendar on the right. | Image-credit-9to5Google In the Day view, the redesign adds containers for the time slots. These lines show up better than the thinner, harder-to-view lines used for the version of the Google Calendar app pre-Material 3 Expressive redesign. The background uses a primary shade of Dynamic Color, which is based on the wallpaper on the user's device. The redesigned Weekly view of Google Calendar on the right. | Image credit-9to5Google The Agenda View (known as Schedule on the mobile app) has not been changed. This option, which you can access by tapping the hamburger menu icon on the upper left of the screen next to the Month, and tap on Schedule. This shows you your future schedule, including tasks entered into the Google Calendar app. Again, the background hue is based on the Dynamic Color. The redesigned Agenda view (aka Schedule in the mobile app) on the right. | Image credit-9to5Google This redesigned Google Calendar is showing up with a version with a server-side update to version 2025.30.x. My Pixel 6 Pro running the latest release of Android 16 QPR1 Beta has the right version of Google Calendar, but not the makeover. That suggests that Google has to flip a switch to activate a server-side update. To see which version of Google Calendar is on your Android phone, go to Settings > Apps > See all xxx apps. Scroll to Calendar, tap on it, and that takes you to the apps "App info" page. Scroll all the way tot he bottom and you'll see the version number listed.
Android Authority
2 days ago
- Android Authority
Digital Wellbeing is looking easy on the eyes with its first taste of Material 3 Expressive
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Material 3 Expressive changes have started showing up in Digital Wellbeing. Right now only users on Android 16 QPR1 Beta or Android Canary are getting the new interface. Only the main Digital Wellbeing screen has this new look, suggesting more changes could be on the way. Google developers are currently in the middle of an Android-wide project to update the look and feel of the company's apps, all with the goal of embracing the new Material 3 Expressive design language introduced earlier this year. Exactly how those updates are proceeding varies quite a bit between apps — some have their new UI already arriving, while others haven't yet made their changes user-facing. Today we're checking out the latest addition to the former camp — that is, at least if you're running the right version of Android. Last month Google introduced a bold new option for Android fans who prioritize bleeding-edge feature access above silly things like system stability, with the introduction of a new public Canary track. And today we're spotting that users running the latest Android Canary or Android 16 QPR1 Beta are getting access to an updated version of Digital Wellbeing. We're seeing the new look with version of Digital Wellbeing, and while it's definitely starting to hit users, right now Google's implementation feels a little like a half measure. Old UI Old UI New UI New UI Material 3 Expressive changes dominate the main Digital Wellbeing screen, following the same sort of design pattern we've seen across other apps: lots of rounded corners, dividers between entries in a list, and background coloring that contrasts with interactive elements. Sadly, Expressive's interest in color doesn't carry over to your app activity chart, which drops its rainbow hues for a much more subtle set of tones. To be fair, the new look is arguably more successful, with its denser layout easier to read at a glance, but Google could have easily kept the fun colors, too. What we haven't seen yet is any of this M3E impact hitting the other screens you might encounter while using Digital Wellbeing, and so far the overhaul is confined to the primary view. There's no rule that says that all of these changes have to arrive at once, though, and it's entirely possible that Google will continue to deliver more UI tweaks ahead of this new look becoming available for users on stable Android builds. Follow
Android Authority
4 days ago
- Android Authority
Here's an early look at Gboard's Material 3 Expressive refresh (APK teardown)
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Google is working on a Material 3 Expressive redesign for the Gboard app settings. The redesign features a card-style user interface and a rearranged settings menu with new descriptions. Gboard is one of those apps I cannot live without, so much so that I even install it on my iPhones (which sounds blasphemous, but it works great). On Android phones, Google is working to bring a Material 3 Expressive redesign for Gboard settings, so you can enjoy a consistent and refreshed experience whenever you need to set up the keyboard app. ⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. Gboard v15.7.3 beta includes code for a Material 3 Expressive refresh for the app settings. We managed to activate the upcoming redesign to give you an early look: Just like we have seen with various other Google apps, the settings menu for Gboard is wholeheartedly adopting the card-style UI. We could only enable the new Expressive redesign on Android Canary and Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3. Enabling the redesign externally on Android 15 builds caused Gboard to crash, so you may need to be on the latest Android 16 release to enjoy the redesign whenever it rolls out. Eagle-eyed readers will also notice that several settings have been rearranged, and their descriptions have changed. We had to activate this change externally, so be on the lookout for it rolling out in the future. Follow
Android Authority
5 days ago
- Android Authority
Google Contacts' new Material 3 Expressive look is rolling out, here's what's different
Adamya Sharma / Android Authority TL;DR Google is rolling out the Material 3 Expressive redesign to its Contacts app with v4.61.27. The redesign features prominent card-like UI across tabs like Highlights and Organize, as well as Search and Contact Details pages. Settings and New Contact pages remain unchanged for now, but are expected to follow soon. Material 3 Expressive is the flavor of the season, and Google is trying to bring the new design to all of its apps ahead of the Android 16 QPR1 rollout to Pixels in September. Following on the heels of the Google Phone app getting its dose of Material 3 Expressive, Google is now rolling out the Material 3 Expressive refresh for the Contacts app. With Google Contacts app v4.61.27, users can now enjoy the expressive UI across the app. This change is gradually rolling out to users, and you don't need to sign up for the beta as it is coming through the stable branch. Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive The big highlight of the update is that we see a lot more of the card-like UI across the Contacts, Highlights, and Organize tabs. Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive The redesign extends into the Search and Contact Details page, as you can see in the screenshots below: Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - Old Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive Google Contacts - New with Material 3 Expressive The Settings and New Contact pages remain unchanged for now, but we reckon they won't be left behind for long. As mentioned, this redesign is rolling out to users. Have you updated the Contacts app on your phone and received the redesign? Let us know in the comments below! Follow
Android Authority
01-08-2025
- Android Authority
I tried iOS 26 as an Android user, and my biggest issue has nothing to do with Liquid Glass
Ryan Haines / Android Authority I'm a Pixel guy, have been for years — everyone knows it. So, you can imagine I was pretty pleased when Google unveiled Material 3 Expressive, and it looked like a refinement of the Pixel UI design that I already loved. And then came Apple with its new Liquid Glass interface as part of iOS 26. Simply put, I thought it looked awful. It was hard to read, and the original glass effects looked clunky. Now, though, I've given iOS 26 a shot. I've loaded it onto my iPhone 16 for a quick trip around the block and realized I was wrong. My least favorite part about Apple's latest software isn't the look, but what it's done to the navigation buttons I spent years getting used to. I'm nearly ready to go back to iOS 18, and here's why. Liquid Glass looks actually kinda cool… once you figure it out Ryan Haines / Android Authority At first, Liquid Glass threw me for a loop. It automatically applied itself, well, everywhere, and I wasn't sure how to navigate. My app icons suddenly looked like frosted glass pebbles, and most of my on-screen buttons were just a little harder to see. But after a few minutes, my eyes adjusted. I adapted to the new icons just like I had adapted when they were barely visible against dark gray backgrounds, and I quickly relearned my way around. Once I did, I began to see how Liquid Glass is an improvement over whatever Apple called its iOS 18 design. Where that styling felt like a quick, dirty response to one of my favorite Android customizations, Liquid Glass feels considered. The app icons feel textured, and the slight difference in coloring makes it much easier to pick out which app I'm looking for — I no longer get mixed up between Spotify, Find My, and Apple Fitness. Liquid Glass treats my app icons much, much better than iOS 18 ever did. Of course, Liquid Glass isn't just about recoloring app icons; it's also about spicing up widgets and reworking the folders that adorn my home screen. On both fronts, I love what Apple is going for. I keep my home screen pretty lean, with two folders at the bottom and two widgets at the top, and Liquid Glass does just enough to minimize both of them while bringing out the details in my wallpaper. I particularly like that my productivity folder — which houses Slack, Asana, and Google Authenticator — pulls from the golden evening glow of the iconic pagoda in Patterson Park and loops it around the edge of the folder as if I were looking through a slightly rounded window. There are, however, times when I'm not sure the Liquid Glass treatment is necessary. One is when I drag down from the top edge to check my notifications. Sure, it's neat that you can see the glass texture take over, acting like a wave as it descends over your apps, but it's not the most noticeable. The part of Liquid Glass that's really gotten old is when I swipe into apps like Photos. Everything is fine at first, with easily visible buttons along the bottom of my library, but when I swipe up and the glass takes over, it becomes almost impossible to find everything from Select to Search. And, now that I'm annoyed at that, let's talk about the buttons themselves. Bubbles are no good for glass, Apple Ryan Haines / Android Authority As I saw it, Apple's existing controls were good enough — maybe even great for some people. I certainly had no problem with how the buttons looked in Photos on iOS 18, and I even asked Google to copy Apple's bottom-mounted search bar from Safari to Chrome (which it later did). I would have been content for them to stay the same from one version of iOS to the next and beyond, but Apple had something else in mind. It put everything in its little bubble, making it all hard to find. Perhaps the worst example of this — and the one that inspired me — is what Apple did to its Safari controls. Previously, they were set up just right. The forward and backward arrows took up just enough space, and it was easy to read the address bar at a glance. I could jump from one tab to the next with a single button and access all other tab-related controls right from the same one. Now, though, I have to press a button to open the tab menu, then press a second button to view all of my tabs, taking a few unnecessary extra seconds to display those options. Apple's search for bubbly goodness has also led it to ruin its camera app with one simple change. It decided that Google had the right idea a few years ago with its minimalist Pixel camera interface, and now the iPhone should have the same one. On one hand, Apple always kept one tab for video and one tab for photos, but this new interface just doesn't work for me. I think my problem is that it's both bubbly and backwards. A swipe to the left makes the settings go left, while a swipe to the right makes them go right. It's exactly the opposite behavior of the previous camera interface, and now it's the opposite of how the Camera Control behaves, too. An easy fix for this is to make them swipe in the same direction, but I fear I'll be waiting impatiently until Apple realizes it. Unfortunately, Apple's hard-to-see buttons are pretty much everywhere in iOS 26. Nothing shares a safe, reliable bar anymore, and pretty much everything has been moved from its original position. New messages now start from the bottom of the interface rather than the top, the Phone app now has one unified menu, and the button to start navigating in Apple Maps practically needs its own navigation feature. It's confusing, it's a mess, and I'm ready to pack up my things and go back to my Pixel 9 Pro. I'm sorry, Apple. Maybe I'll try a future version of iOS 26 — one where I can actually find my way around. Follow
