When was the last time we had a four-inch smartphone? Our thumbs can’t reach the top of our phones nowadays, and most developers are focused on ease of use. Samsung’s One UI subscribes to one of the best design ethos in the market, focusing on being comfortable and intuitive to use with one hand, but not all apps have followed suit.
One UI’s focus on bottom navigation and clean interfaces was a game changer when it was introduced back in 2018, and it’s time for these five big apps to join us in 2024. Don’t just take our word for it — if you haven’t used these apps in a while, go see how outdated and busy they look now.
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1 Facebook
What is this, 2016?
Facebook gets a bad rap, but we can’t ignore that more than two billion people use it daily, including nearly 75% of the US population. The iOS version gets shiny updates and a sleek design language, but the Android app looks like something stuck in 2016, with its top-heavy navigation bar and cluttered interface.
Android has a massive user base, even in the US, and Meta needs to prioritize this app and give Android users the same experience iPhone users enjoy. It’s time to bring the app into the 2020s with bottom navigation, a clean interface, and easy-to-read fonts.
2 Tasker
Like an old dependable Buick
Tasker is showing its age. Sure, it remains powerful and one of the best automation tools for Android around, but it could use a shiny coat of One UI-inspired paint. Portuguese developer Joao Dias gave it a bit of polish when he took over the app in 2018, but it’s still the same Tasker that was built for Palm OS way back in ancient history.
The amount of reaching required to access menus and create automation is frustrating, meaning you basically need two hands to use it. Constantly switching between tasks and profiles becomes a physical chore after a while, too. We’re in the one-handed era now, and it’s time for Tasker to follow One UI’s lead in the UX department. Bring those crucial navigation elements to the bottom of the screen, please.
3 Google Chrome
Google is finally modernizing its browser
Irony should be Chrome’s middle name. Google’s browser doesn’t have modern bottom navigation on Google’s own platform, yet it does on the iPhone. Nearly every other Google app on Android has bottom navigation!
And, yes, Google announced recently that bottom navigation could be activated on Android using a flag, but this isn’t something the average phone user knows how to do.
This is all the more puzzling when you realize Google’s Material You guidelines emphasize the need for bottom navigation. Chrome needs to put search, tabs, and bookmarks at the bottom of the screen. If Google can’t follow its own design ethos, perhaps it can take inspiration from One UI.
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4 Google Files
The curious case of a forgotten app
File management is one of the standout features of the Android operating system, putting it above its fruit-shaped competition. The My Files app on Samsung devices manages to perfectly blend functionality with One UI’s design ethos.
The app is clean and pleasant to look at, too, as well as easy to use and incredibly powerful. You need a Samsung device to use it, though; if you’re on a Pixel, you’re stuck with Google Files, a leftover from the Material Design era.
The one thing Google Files has going for it is a cartoon-y floating “Scanner” button on the bottom, but that’s it. Everything else is tucked behind a tiny hamburger menu on the top left of the screen, which opens a side menu in a small font, as if it was ported over from a desktop web app.
Google dropped the ball on one of Android’s key features, and people have tolerated it for too long. It’s time to move all the navigation to the bottom, make the fonts bigger, and make menus easier to interact with.
5 AliExpress
It’s like if apps took LSD
AliExpress is the perfect example of an app that was seemingly made with no design plan whatsoever. The 50th most popular app on the Play Store is a wild cacophony of both bottom and top toolbars, spinning animations, flashing lights, rotating images, and dozens of tiny icons all jammed together, vying for your attention. To be honest, it’s kinda incredible.
That said, the sensory overload of AliExpress is more like a carnival than an app, and as fun as that sounds, the app could really take a page from One UI. For starters, it needs bigger icons and larger fonts; it’s nearly impossible for those of us with bigger hands to tap the right icon on the first try, and trying to read anything is a challenge for anyone with eyes older than 20 years.
Also, put the search bar on the bottom, and maybe move the deals button somewhere else. Jamming two different toolbars into one app, while unique, is a little too much.
One UI should be a guiding light
We’re on our phones a lot, and for many of us, it feels like we’re fighting an app every time we open it. Our apps should be easy to use one-handed and even quicker to access.
One UI’s bottom navigation, clean and minimalist backgrounds, and big clear fonts turn Samsung apps into functional tools. Heck, even using facial gestures to navigate apps sounds better than what we have now.
To be fair, many third-party apps have improved their user experience, but Facebook, Tasker, Chrome, and Files are clearly behind. Then there’s AliExpress, which seems to outright mock the entire design ethos of One UI. That wild carnival has no rhyme or reason to it, though we sort of respect it.
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