Google is said to be working on a considerable overhaul to its UI for Android 16 , and we suspect that not everyone’s going to like it.
As we reported last week, Google is planning to introduce a major update to its design language with Android 16, called Material 3 Expressive.
While initial Android 16 betas have looked much like Android 15, major changes could be set to arrive further along the line. They look to be drawing inspiration from some interesting places, and could prove divisive.
Material 3 Expressive looking a little more ‘iOS’
Android Authority has been diving into the code of Android 16 beta 4, and has uncovered previously hidden evidence of some of these UI changes.
One fairly major change seems to be to the design of the combined notifications and Quick Settings panel. While the rumoured iOS-style split menu appears to be on ice for now, there are still a couple of touches that seem to emulate Apple’s operating system.
That includes resizable Quick Settings tiles and a category-based organisation system. It’s also looking to implement a considerable dose of semi-transparency into this menu, as well as the app tray and PIN entry screen. All have heavily blurred backgrounds rather than Android 15’s plain equivalents.
Again, this is very redolent of iOS and its own frosted Quick Settings menu.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
New icons and menu design
Elsewhere Google is experimenting with new more stand-out icons in the status bar for Wi-Fi, mobile data, airplane mode, and battery level. There’s also now a good splash of colour to icons within the Settings menu, while menu items are now separated into distinct cards.
Google will also offer five new icon shape options: square, four-sided cookie, seven-sided cookie, arch, and complex clover.
The lock screen widget is also set to be tweaked to centralise all the information, while lock screen notifications could also offer the option of smaller, more discrete previews until you tap them.
The separate volume UI screen is also receiving some attention, with thinner volume bars and separated text for Media, Call, Ring and the like. The volume bar itself is also looking more squared off, reflecting a slight turn away from Android 15’s rounded style.
It all confirms our initial impression that while Material 3 Expressive won’t be so much a whole new UI, it will represent a quite considerable revamp of Android as we know it.
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.
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