While Google has increased its efforts to roll out the Material You aesthetic to a number of its very own apps including Gmail, Maps, and Photos, a number of others like the Google News app on smartphones have yet to receive the treatment. But after all this time, the company is now finally making due for News users as they get a new look that’s been in the works for about a year, maybe even more.
Google first rolled out Material Design 3 components to its news aggregator app on tablets earlier this year with a few UI tweaks optimized for large screens. The most notable change was a vertical navigation rail on the left-hand side, encompassing buttons for Headlines, Newsstand, Following, and For You in one place.
The latest tweak bringsMaterial You design to News on smartphones. This means you should now see pill-shaped indicators on the bottom navigation bar indicating the current tab you’re viewing, assuming the update is live for you.
However, a few key features are missing, including dynamic theming. This means that the interface does not change colors in line with the color of your home screen wallpaper. As shown in the screenshot shared by 9to5Google, the app’s interface defaults to a blue accent.
We first saw hints of Google News picking up the Material You treatment in May of last year, though it has not been made available in the months that followed until now.
Google has not announced a timeline for when the Material You redesign will be fully rolled out to all of its apps, but if its designers are iterating as quickly as they have in previous years, we may move on from Material 3 before every Google-owned surface has had the chance to flip over.
If you’re into pastels with simple, high-contrast shapes, we’ve got some ideas on what apps pair well with Material You.
