Over the last few months, Google has switched to a floating bottom toolbar on most of its apps across Android and iOS. Google Photos was the only big exception, but that’s changing now. While minor, the design tweak gives the app a more modern look and feel.
The older bottom tab in Google Photos was quite heavy, housing shortcuts for Photos, Collections, Create, and the Gemini-powered Ask Photos feature.”
In comparison, the floating toolbar looks a lot sleeker and visually lighter (via 9to5Google). It also houses the same shortcuts as before, grouping Photos, Collections, and Create together in a floating container. The Ask Photos search shortcut gets another floating pill of its own.
Like the previous bottom tab, the floating bar does not auto-hide while you scroll. However, since it sits higher and uses a lighter design, you can see the content behind it.
Google first adopted this floating bottom bar in the Google Chat app back in December 2023. The company was spotted testing a floating toolbar in Google Photos years ago, but the change never went live. It was spotted again in March 2025.
Apple’s Liquid Glass design also includes a floating bottom bar, but it uses a more pronounced transparent effect.
For now, the floating bottom bar in Google Photos is rolling out only on iOS. Hopefully, the Android build will get a similar update in the coming weeks.
More visual changes are coming to the Google Photos app
Google is working on several other visual improvements for the Google Photos app. This includes adding a useful Copy option to the share menu to make image sharing easier. With the shortcut, you can directly copy an image to your phone’s clipboard and then paste it wherever you want.
Additionally, the company is working on bringing more Material 3 Expressive elements to the app, including the Backup page in the Settings menu. Since these changes are still under development, they could take a while to go live.
Less than a month ago, Google removed all restrictions on using AI to animate your still photos.
