Google One’s broader Material 3 Expressive redesign began rolling out back in July, but the tech giant doesn’t seem to be content with just that. Google is now rolling out more changes — changes that will make the tedious task of clearing out your storage a little bit more intuitive (for some) and fun/easier (for all).
The new changes were spotted by the folks over at Android Authority in Google One’s v1.287.828055836 build, highlighting changes coming to the app’s storage/cleanup page.
Once you visit the cleanup page, the app highlights “suggested items” that you might want to delete. These include large photos and videos, large drive files, emails with large attachments, and even emails in trash. If, for example, you tap on ‘Large photos and videos,’ the app takes you to a dedicated ‘Items from Google Photos’ page.
Previously, this page highlighted images and videos in large thumbnails. With the recent change, the same thumbnails are now smaller, essentially fitting in more files within the same screen real estate. Similarly, ‘Items from Google Drive’ page, as seen in the image below, features changes too, including a new checkmark for selecting all items and a redesigned filter row.
Old Google Photos, old Google Drive, new Google Photos, new Google Drive
This, however, isn’t the main change that the latest build unlocks.
In both of the above cases, once you select items, the app promptly highlights a new Tinder-like UI, where you swipe a large Drive or Google Photos file towards the left to delete it and towards the right to keep it.
A rare cross-platform rollout
The UI highlights clear trash bin and heart icons to indicate whether you’re deleting a file or saving it, respectively. Users still have the option to delete files individually from the ‘Items from’ screen.
For what it’s worth, the change isn’t live for me on Android just yet, but it is live on my iPhone. Android Authority’s report, on the other hand, suggests it is live on Android, making this one of the few changes that’s going live on Android and iOS concurrently.
