Effectively, the leaks have been proper. Google is updating the look of Android and Put on OS to make its cellular and wearable working techniques extra visually expressive and animated.
Google has dubbed its new design system Materials 3 Expressive, and plans to introduce it when Android 16 and Put on OS 6 launch later this yr. Materials 3 Expressive builds on the Materials You design modifications Google made with the introduction of Android 12 by including “extra pure, springy animations,” a higher sense of depth, up to date “dynamic colour themes” and “emphasised typography.” For those who’re aware of Apple‘s strategy to animation in iOS, Google appears to be utilizing the same philosophy right here, making software program parts extra reactive to one another and your enter, and layering in haptics so you possibly can really feel them react, too.
The corporate particularly calls out the way in which different notifications bounce and jiggle while you pull one out of a stack within the notification shade and the haptics you’re feeling dismissing apps within the latest apps menu, however new animations needs to be noticeable all through Android 16. That is together with what seems like an much more playful use of typography and colour theming in Google’s inventory apps, and a tasteful blur within the background of contextual menus. For much more personalization choices, Google says the Fast Settings menu can now be personalized to suit extra actions, not not like iOS 18’s Management Middle. On the lock display, apps may even have the choice to show a live-updating notification, a characteristic Google calls “Dwell Updates” that’s equal to Dwell Actions in iOS.
Given the smaller display actual property, Materials 3 Expressive comes throughout as much less of a significant change on Put on OS, however there are nonetheless visible modifications that needs to be noticeable when you replace. That features new animations while you scroll via lists and glances, dynamic color-theming that matches the remainder of your watch to your watch face and tweaks to notifications that make them simpler to work together with. That is on prime of efficiency enhancements which are supposed to offer Put on OS 6 smartwatches as much as 10 % extra battery life, in line with Google.
Materials 3 Expressive provides extra of the quirky pizazz that has made the corporate’s software program stand out in the previous couple of years, however Google claims these modifications are backed up by analysis, too. Materials 3 Expressive is “essentially the most researched replace to Google’s design system, ever,” in line with the corporate. There’s a weblog digging into a few of Google’s findings, however of explicit observe is the concept that Materials 3 Expressive apps are enticing to younger folks — the corporate claims as much as 87 % of 18-to-24-year-olds desire expressive design — whereas being simpler to grasp for folks over the age of 45.
It stays to be seen whether or not builders take these modifications in stride, however on the very least Android 16 and Put on OS 6 will probably be extra visually thrilling than something Google’s launched in years.