Summary
- Google has subtly updated its iconic ‘G’ logo for the first time since 2015 a couple of days ago.
- The rollout has been oddly staggered, with the iOS app receiving the new logo before Android, and many places, like the Pixel Launcher, still showing the old version.
- The new logo now appears in more places, including the Google.com favicon, the Search bar widget, and throughout the Google app’s interface, as seen during the recent I/O keynote.
A colorful ‘G’ icon is synonymous with only one company, and that’s Google. Given that the Mountain View-based giant last updated its icon in 2015, it was due for a much-needed refresh, which it got just a couple of days ago (as spotted by u/Eyal-M on Reddit).
However, unlike other companies that choose to massively revamp their logos (and sometimes end up losing their entire identity), Google decided to take the smarter route. It made a subtle change to the logo, but it wasn’t too subtle. In fact, it was just the right amount of subtle: enough for you to immediately tell it’s Google at first glance, but also enough to notice that something isn’t quite right and that something’s different.
What’s a bit strange is that despite it being Google’s own icon change, the iOS app got the new icon first instead of Android, like one would expect and even then, only in the beta version. A couple of days after debuting it on iOS, the company then rolled it out to the Google app on Android. But even then, it didn’t talk about it publicly or bother updating the icon online.
Well, until now. Google finally rolled the icon out more widely, but yet again, decided to pick and choose which places get the upgrade.
The updated ‘G’ logo shows up in the favicon, search widget, and beyond
If you haven’t seen it yet, the new Google icon ditches solid colors in favor of gradient colors. In the new logo, the red bleeds into yellow, which bleeds into green, which bleeds into blue. It’s a bit hard to tell in the favicon, especially if you aren’t looking at it too closely, but the image we’ve attached below should help.
As first reported by 9to5Google, Google’s new ‘G’ logo has now made its way to Google Web. Now, when you head to google.com, the little ‘G’ logo in the tab, which is called the favicon, has been replaced from the old one to the new one.
Even though the favicon has been updated, search results from Google’s own websites, like google.com, images.google.com, and accounts.google.com, still show the old icon.
Google debuted its new icon quietly and decided to update the iOS app’s icon out of the blue, with no prior warning or word from the company itself. However, Google’s new gradient logo appeared right on stage during this year’s I/O keynote, held earlier this week.
The Google app’s Search bar homescreen widget has also been updated with the new icon, and the AI Mode too has the new logo on display at the top.
Similarly, you’ll also spot more instances of the refreshed Google icon in the app itself, which wasn’t the case when Google first updated the icon. For instance, in the iOS app, when you search something and the results appear on the next page, the new G logo shows up in the top-left corner.
Strangely, Google is still yet to ship the new icon to the Pixel Launcher search bar. That’ll probably change soon though. What’s weird is that Google chose to roll this minor change out in phases, but Google is just going to… Google.
