Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Google Messages is the latest Wear OS app to receive Google’s Material 3 Expressive redesign.
The update brings more consistent coloring, slight changes to shapes, and new icons to complement text.
Google may be testing the update with a small set of users, since it has yet to reach a wider audience.
Google has already begun transitioning many of its apps to the new, more fluid and vivid Material 3 Expressive design philosophy. These changes haven’t been limited to Android phones or tablets and have also extended to other Google platforms, including Wear OS, where Google now appears to be rolling out the updated design theme to another app.
Google Messages is the latest Wear OS app to be updated with Material 3 Expressive elements. Among the chief changes we see here are more integrated UI elements, mainly including color-filled buttons and slightly tinted message blobs. Some buttons, including those for options in a list, are also shaped more dynamically to suggest a scrollable nature. Meanwhile, blobs for messages and conversations also assume a less rounded shape.
Additionally, we now see text on some buttons accompanied by icons. Here’s a look at the Material 3 Expressive theme on Google Messages:
Buttons grouped together also have an outline under them, suggesting that they may have similar or complementary functions. You can see that on buttons for quick replies, including separate buttons for emoji, voice typing, and a full-sized keyboard, which appear unified with an outline below them. Meanwhile, the older design simply puts these buttons in a single row.
We were notified of these changes by Telegram user jolivekoffi, who found them on their Pixel Watch 3. The interface changes to the Messages app on Wear OS were also corroborated by my colleague, Rita El Khoury. However, some others at Android Authority, including my colleague AssembleDebug and myself, haven’t received the updates despite running the latest version of the app, suggesting that this could be either a server-side rollout or intended for specific watch models.
Google Messages is the latest to join the roster of Wear OS apps to have received the new, but also polarizing, design. Calendar, Keep, Gmail, and the recently released Gemini app for Wear OS are other Google apps that have already been updated with fresher visuals on smartwatches. Meanwhile, Google is also testing the redesign for Messages on Android, but these changes are currently limited to beta users.
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