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Google Photos is preparing Material You with an impressive array of changes such as larger text in the image library. The search engine giant unveiled the major iteration of its design language during last month’s Google I/O.
Material You brings a radically overhauled look and feel to various Google-developed platforms, including Android. The new design encompasses larger header text, rounded corners, and customization.
XDA Developers got an early glimpse of the Android 12 beta at how the company is redesigning Android. These tweaks will make Android’s design more one-handed-friendly.
Google Photos is gearing up for Material You
The site also discovered evidence that suggests Google will adopt the same design principles for Google Photos. However, this tweaked design will be extended to the photo-sharing app in subtle ways.
Tipster @damned_im reached out to XDA Developers claiming they found a new design in Google Photo app version 5.43. The renowned leaker sent some screenshots to the site that showcase a larger header text for the date.
While these screenshots resembled the new Settings app in Android 12, the tipster was running an older Android 10 on a first-generation Pixel phone. It isn’t surprising to see a Material You-redesigned app running on an older Android version since it is just a new design language and not part of a newer OS version.
The updated color extraction algorithm which automatically themes the UX from your wallpaper is the only aspect of Material You that is restricted to Android 12. Older OS versions still have less robust color extraction APIs.
Features of the redesigned Google Photos app
The site was able to enable the Google Photos redesign with a bit of effort, and it found a few functional changes as well. For example, when you zoom in and explore the image library, the date the images were taken on, appears on the top left.
Google Photos has been adding some new memories at the top over the past few weeks. Aside from that, the app will be showing these memories in line with the image library.
If a user creates an album of images on a certain date, that album will appear in-line when they explore the image library. The Google Photos app is also preparing an overflow menu.
When you tap this overflow menu, a ‘select’ button will appear. The overflow menu will show a “view on map” button if all images on a particular date were captured at a recognized location. You can click on this button to head to the app’s map view.
Google Photos is the first Google app to appear on a Material You type of redesign. There are some hints that suggest Google Chrome will be getting a massive redesign. However, the changes so far have been negligible.