TL;DR
- Google is working on visual changes for Google Keep, using the Material 3 Expressive style.
- The app could specifically get a more prominent search bar and related tweaks.
- This news comes after we discovered Google was working on major visual changes to Android.
Google is preparing for a major visual overhaul of Android, using the so-called Material 3 Expressive theme. The company hasn’t announced these changes yet, but we’ve already uncovered plenty of evidence. Now, we’ve discovered some Material 3 Expressive changes coming to Google Keep.
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.
An Android Authority teardown of the Google Keep app (version 5.25.182.01.90) has uncovered a redesigned search bar that uses these expressive elements. The string below hints at this new approach.
Code
<string name="expressive_search_bar_hint">Search Keep</string>We were also able to enable this new search bar in Keep, as seen in the screens below.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
The new search bar is slightly taller but narrower, for one. Otherwise, the account switcher and hamburger menu icons have both been moved to the outside, while a filter button now appears inside the bar. Google has also changed the text inside the search bar from “Search your notes” to “Search Keep.”
In any event, we’re guessing this is just the first of many Material 3 Expressive changes we’re seeing in Google’s apps as it prepares to overhaul Android. Hopefully, the app changes don’t drag out like Google’s protracted move to offer dark mode across its apps.
This news also comes a few days after we first uncovered Google’s visual changes to the Android OS. We also discovered plenty of tweaked system animations as part of this overhaul.
