Every year, Google adds a potpourri of features to Android. Visually, however, it changes only once a few years. The last time Google made significant visual changes, it was with Android 12 over three years ago. In the coming months, Google is expected to kick off another cycle of aesthetic overhaul, with significant changes sprinkled across the UI. These appear right before Google is set to launch Android 16, and has ignites new expectations — but I’m afraid this comes too little, too late.
The redesigned Android interface brings a breath of freshness, with visually engaging colors and completely refreshed sliders across the interface. Even smaller elements, including icons in the status bar, are going under the knife, and coming out slightly more detailed than were in the previous iterations. Many aspects of the interface appear to have adopted a translucent cloak, giving it a more modern look. While the visual impact is undeniable, the timing is rather odd.
Google’s upcoming Android version — Android 16 — is just around the corner and is expected to start rolling out formally at Google I/O — its annual conference for developers, which is scheduled to kick-off on May 20th. So the first thought to emerge is that Google may introduce the feature when it announces other major changes coming to Android later this month. However, there are signs contradicting that.
Firstly, these changes weren’t spotted as a widely available feature. Instead, folks at Android Authority discovered it in the latest edition of Android 16 beta and reverse engineered the code to activate the new interface. That means, most of us, including those who have been testing Android 16 beta on our Pixel devices will not have access to the new features yet. But does it mean we will have them when Android 16 finally rolls out for a wide base of users as a stable update? Well, that’s the tricky part!
Pixel 10 series, though Google hasn’t differentiated between devices based on visual traits before, and that doing so might challenge the open nature of Android.
Android Authority says Google will familiarize developers with this concept at the I/O conference, hoping to inspire them to adopt these visual elements to their apps. Unlike Apple, which sets strict standards for how iOS apps look, Google is more lenient. That could mean developers may not adopt it for several more Android iterations.
However, for things Google can control, such as the Settings menu or the Quick Settings or notifications on Android, it might bring this new interface sooner in the form of a new optional theme. Whether it’s as soon as Google I/O in the coming months, Pixel 10’s launch in the second half of 2025, or with the Android 17 beta is what remains completely unclear.
Desktop mode in Android.
