Google is working on a big UI overhaul for Android: Here’s an early look

Google is overhauling Android’s UI to fall in line with its new Material 3 Expressive theme, and we have an early look

Apr 30, 2025 - 16:39

Google is working on a big UI overhaul for Android: Here’s an early look

Google is working on a big redesign of Android, and we have an early look at what the new UI looks like.
Android will apply background blur to Quick Settings and other areas, will use thinner sliders for volume, will use new icons and font in the status bar, and more.
These UI changes aren’t enabled yet in the latest beta, and we don’t know when they’ll roll out.

When Google released the fourth beta of Android 16 this month, many users were disappointed by the lack of major UI changes. As Beta 4 is the final beta, it’s likely the stable Android 16 release won’t look much different than last year’s release. However, that might not hold true for subsequent updates. Google recently confirmed it will unveil a new version of its Material Design theme at its upcoming developer conference, and we’ve already caught glimpses of these design changes in Android—including a notable increase in background blur effects. Ahead of I/O next month, here’s an early look at Google’s upcoming Android redesign.

Before we begin, a word of caution: What we’re about to show you are hidden design changes found in Android 16 Beta 4. None of these are enabled by default in Beta 4, and we don’t know for certain when Google will activate them. While it’s highly likely we won’t see this full redesign in the stable release of Android 16, parts or all of it could appear in a future quarterly update. We’ll hopefully get more clarity next month during The Android Show or Google I/O 2025, where the company plans to unveil its new, more “expressive” version of Material Design, dubbed Material 3 Expressive.