Reviews

Expressive Android — but Google Apps Feel Like 3.5

Material 3 Expressive: Google Apps Feel Like 3.5
Material 3.5
  • Key Takeaways:
  • Android's Material 3 Expressive brings cohesive system-level polish across phones, tablets, and watches.
  • Many first-party Google apps show incremental 'Material 3.5' updates rather than a full Expressive redesign.
  • Changes to app bars, navigation bars, containers, and oversized buttons are inconsistent across apps.
  • Motion and new loading/refresh animations are standout improvements, but core workflows remain unchanged.

Overview

Android's Material 3 Expressive (M3E) is a clear visual step forward for the OS itself: updated motion, refreshed surfaces, and a more unified look across device classes. The system UI feels more lively and modern, and many of the motion tweaks genuinely improve perceived responsiveness.

System Improvements vs. App Reality

What M3E gets right

M3E's motion-physics updates and refined surfaces make interactions feel smoother. Pull-to-refresh in Google Photos and new loading indicators are small but welcome touches that make the platform feel more considered.

Where Google apps fall short

Despite that system-level success, Google's first-party apps largely adopt M3E as a set of component swaps rather than a ground-up rethink. Many updated apps feel like Material 3.5 — recognizable changes, but not the expressive reimaginings the name implies.

Top UI Changes and Tensions

The new search app bar separates the hamburger menu and profile avatar from the pill-shaped search field and increases the bar height. In Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Gmail, and Keep, this modernizes the header — but it breaks the old unified component model where everything lived inside the search container.

M3E shifts many apps from tall bottom navigation bars back to shorter ones, reclaiming vertical space that apps rarely leverage. Google Chat's anticipated floating bottom bar became a floating toolbar — useful for page-specific actions but questionable as a replacement for main navigation.

Containers and button scale

Containers are used aggressively to highlight tappable areas, which improves discoverability but also creates a denser, more cluttered look in list-heavy views. Buttons and FABs have grown larger across apps; big touch targets improve usability but sometimes feel oversized and disproportionate.

Motion and Microinteractions

Animations and the FAB menu springs are among M3E's best assets. While Google Drive's multi-item FAB can be unwieldy, Docs' FAB behavior and Photos' pull-to-refresh show thoughtful motion design that enhances scanning and interaction.

Verdict

Material 3 Expressive succeeds at the system level, giving Android a fresher, more animated personality. But in Google's first wave of app updates the "expressive" promise is only partially met. Many apps feel like incremental Material 3.5 updates rather than a cohesive, expressive redesign that rethinks long-standing interfaces.

As the M3E rollout continues, expectations should be for more iterative improvements. The platform's motion and surface language are strong foundations — now developers need to apply expressive thinking to app workflows, not just components.

"Expressive design makes you feel something. It inspires emotion, communicates function, and helps users achieve their goals."

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