Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR Material 3 Expressive changes have started showing up in Digital Wellbeing.
Right now only users on Android 16 QPR1 Beta or Android Canary are getting the new interface.
Only the main Digital Wellbeing screen has this new look, suggesting more changes could be on the way.
Google developers are currently in the middle of an Android-wide project to update the look and feel of the company’s apps, all with the goal of embracing the new Material 3 Expressive design language introduced earlier this year. Exactly how those updates are proceeding varies quite a bit between apps — some have their new UI already arriving, while others haven’t yet made their changes user-facing. Today we’re checking out the latest addition to the former camp — that is, at least if you’re running the right version of Android.
Last month Google introduced a bold new option for Android fans who prioritize bleeding-edge feature access above silly things like system stability, with the introduction of a new public Canary track. And today we’re spotting that users running the latest Android Canary or Android 16 QPR1 Beta are getting access to an updated version of Digital Wellbeing.
We’re seeing the new look with version 1.30.785826879.beta of Digital Wellbeing, and while it’s definitely starting to hit users, right now Google’s implementation feels a little like a half measure.
Old UI Old UI New UI New UI
Material 3 Expressive changes dominate the main Digital Wellbeing screen, following the same sort of design pattern we’ve seen across other apps: lots of rounded corners, dividers between entries in a list, and background coloring that contrasts with interactive elements.
Sadly, Expressive’s interest in color doesn’t carry over to your app activity chart, which drops its rainbow hues for a much more subtle set of tones. To be fair, the new look is arguably more successful, with its denser layout easier to read at a glance, but Google could have easily kept the fun colors, too.
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