Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
TL;DR Google Photos is getting the new album cover design that aligns with Material 3 Expressive.
The redesign enhances album cover visibility and makes the title more prominent with a larger font.
We’re also seeing changes to the menu options for albums
In recent months, we have seen several signs of Google’s latest Material 3 Expressive design philosophy scattered around the Photos app. These instances include a refreshed homepage, new icons and progress bar, and a noticeably improved photo editor. Now, we’re seeing another significant change, which aligns with what Google highlighted as a key change as part of the Material 3 Expressive showcase earlier this year.
Google has begun testing Material 3 Expressive design language in Google Photos. These changes were first previewed as part of the general announcement at Google I/O 2025 back in May.
We’re starting to see the changes get reflected in the Photos app, starting with version 7.45. These changes are still under wraps, but we were able to toggle them on with some internal tweaks.
One of the most significant changes we’re looking at is the overhauled album view. The changes here include improved typography in album covers, which now use a bigger, bolder, and centrally aligned font for the title. This is definitely an upgrade over the existing interface, which displays the album title in the bottom left corner.
Current album UI in Google Photos Upcoming Material 3 Expressive redesign for albums in Google Photos Another example of the upcoming change
While showcasing these changes, Google also teased text wrapping around subjects in the album cover, although that feature is not yet available in our case. That is likely because the feature still hasn’t reached a point of completion.
... continue reading