Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
Files by Google is starting to receive its Material 3 Expressive redesign.
The new design brings bigger media thumbnails, flatter folder icons, and reorganized floating buttons.
These changes are starting to roll out with the app’s stable version, suggesting a broader release in the coming weeks.
Google is starting to drape an array of apps with the new Material 3 Expressive theme. It has already rolled out splashes of the latest design philosophy to certain apps, such as Gmail and Google Keep, while some other third-party app developers are also dabbling with the implementation. Files by Google is the latest app to get the updated colors and design elements, which are starting to roll out to a select set of users.
Over the past few months, we have noticed Google testing Material 3 Expressive design in Files, the de facto file manager app on Android. But these changes are now available for a few users without any tinkering. Telegram users @minearchiver and @maveli_bro have shared visuals of the updated design language with us, and these appear in version 1.8436.793259964 of the Files by Google app on Android.
Among the significant changes, the redesign focuses on bigger thumbnails for recent media files, more evident icons for folders, and slightly redesigned floating action buttons. Along with these changes, Google is also using a bold and slightly broader typeface for the names of various files and folders compared to the earlier versions. We had previously documented these changes, which were hidden in an older version of Files by Google.
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Along with the new typeface and redesigned buttons, Material 3 Expressive also brings flatter icons for folders in the Files by Google app, which lends a slightly more modern look than the previous implementation. In terms of changes in functionality, Google is also combining floating action buttons on the welcome screen, which gives a cleaner look.
Finally, we also see a squiggly progress bar for actions like copying files or installing an APK file saved on the device. We had previously spotted this animation in a teardown of the Files by Google app a few months ago.
While these features have started to appear for certain users with the aforementioned app version, we have yet to see a wider rollout. That said, the redesign is available in the stable channel, which indicates we may see it roll out to more users in the coming days or weeks.
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