Android 16’s Material 3 Expressive design is already rolling out to one of Google’s biggest apps

The introduction of Material 3 Expressive is a major talking point regarding Android 16, as it not only overhauls the system’s UX but also ensures that Google apps feature the same design language, providing better consistency. Those system-level design changes are expected to come later in the year, but it seems Google doesn’t want to wait any longer to start rolling out Android 16’s designs to its apps.

In the last few weeks, the Mountain View tech giant was spotted testing Material 3 Expressive in Calendar, Photos, Files, and Meet, and more recently, in the Phone app. There is no clarity about the general availability of Android 16’s design for these apps, but if you’re using Gmail as your primary email app on your Android phone, it’s time to check if you received the Material 3 Expressive design update on your Android phone.

What does Material 3 Expressive design mean for Gmail?

As first spotted by SparkRadar on Telegram, Android 16’s design language is rolling out to the Gmail app version 2025.05.11, introducing major changes to the overall appearance of the app (via Android Authority). The first major change that you’ll notice upon opening the app is a new card-based UI for the email list.

Image source: SparkRadar on Telegram (via Android Authority)

Before this, emails and the search bar on the landing page used to appear in a single-sheet-like layout. In addition to the landing page, the Material 3 Expressive redesign introduced the same card-based UI to the email screens.

The “Compose” FAB still appears on the right on the landing page as before, but it now has a thicker font, with the pencil icon solid filled. We can also see a subtle change in the search bar. The redesigned UI no longer features the profile icon in the search bar. Instead, the size of the search bar has now been reduced, making room for a dedicated spot for the profile icon beside it.

We can also notice that the bottom bar has become slightly bigger, with larger Meet and Email icons. What’s more, Gmail’s swipe gestures now feature a pill-shaped button animation, giving the interface a dynamic personality.

The Material 3 Expressive design refresh is pleasant to look at, but it isn’t available to all Gmail users right now. This is because it’s rolling out via a server-side update. And given the fact that Gmail is one of those Google apps that has more than 10 billion installations on the Google Play Store, it might take a few more days to push this change to everyone.