The rollout of Android 16 happened sooner than we expected. However, the highly anticipated Material 3 Expressive design language won’t be available until the Android 16 QPR1 update later this year. In the meantime, we’ve seen multiple Google apps, such as Google Messages, introduce Material 3 Expressive elements into the app. The messaging app is now working on yet another change in line with the updated design philosophy.
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Material 3 Expressive brings what I love about Android into the modern day
A UI redesign for the users
An APK teardown of the latest Google Messages beta (version 20250701_01_RC00) by Android Authority has revealed work on a design refresh for the contact profile/chat info page. This page can be accessed by tapping the contact’s name at the top of a 1-1 conversation or from the list of chats by tapping the contact’s profile image, followed by the “i” icon.
Current vs upcoming (via Android Authority)
This redesign focuses on enlarging the four key buttons on the contact profile page: Call, Video, Contact info, and Search. Compared to the current set of buttons, the upcoming version features significantly larger, oval-shaped buttons. These changes align with the Material 3 Expressive updates we’ve seen across multiple Google apps so far.
The updated visual elements should be available imminently
In addition to their larger size, Google is giving these four buttons more flair. A video uploaded by Android Authority shows how the buttons expand momentarily when the user interacts with them, which is a nice touch. It’s worth pointing out that this feature was manually activated, which means that simply sideloading the Google Messages beta APK on your Android smartphone won’t suffice.
There are no specifics available on the wider rollout of this contact page redesign, which isn’t surprising given that it is only accessible through the beta version. However, with Material 3 Expressive being a big area of focus for Google in the coming months, we’d be surprised if these changes didn’t reach the stable version of Google Messages imminently.
Similar to Google Messages, we’ve recently seen apps like Google Wallet gaining some Material 3 Expressive changes. Meanwhile, email client Gmail is also prepping an updated look in line with Android’s updated design language.