MY apps Vol. 2: The first Material You themed apps [Video]

The number of apps that support Material You theming is growing slowly but surely, and we’re seeing more first-party and even a few third-party apps adopt the new Android aesthetic.

You’d expect all of Google’s first-party Android apps to at least support Dynamic Color tuning ahead of Android 12, and you’d be right, as ahead of the official launch a huge volume is now starting to get updated to adopt the latest UI changes. Some will be “stock” on your Google Pixel, Samsung, Xiaomi, or OnePlus smartphone, but not all will come pre-installed on devices.

While Google has been busy preparing their own apps, we’re also seeing a small but similarly growing selection of third-party apps from independent developers get tweaked and tuned to take advantage of the massive changes coming in Android 12. Some apps don’t even require the latest update for you to see the changes, but you won’t have Dynamic Color theming, rather just simplified colors instead.

Video — all of the latest Material You-themed Android apps

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Google Phone

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If you are enrolled on the Google Phone beta, the Material You redesign is available as part of the latest updates. The app’s Dynamic Color support includes theming the search bar, buttons along the bottom bar, and the floating-action buttons for the keypad and Google Duo.

One of the more notable changes is to the bottom navigation bar, which includes pill-shaped indicators that highlight which UI section you’re currently viewing. The dialer has a number of light changes including to the “Call” button under the number pad.

The all-important Dynamic Color changes are also visible across all areas of the app — provided you’re running Android 12 on your Pixel. You’ll see the biggest or most notable changes when using the light theme, with certain UI elements hued based upon your system theming choices.

Google Calculator

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Updated and added as part of the recent Android 12 Beta 5 update, the Google Calculator app gained a full Material You overall with version 8.0. The Google Calculator hasn’t had many alterations throughout its entire life span, so to get such a vast redesign is quite something.

At the end of the day, this is still a calculator app so Google hasn’t reinvented the wheel. However, load it up on a device running Android 12, and you’ll notice rounded colorful keys with graded accenting based upon the “core” color as denoted by your system theme. Lighter and darker tones are used for specific function keys, with the “AC” button having a different color to stand out fully.

The top pane is also themed, with results still shown in black text so it stands out effectively. However, the theming is less pronounced when your device system dark theme is enabled. Overall, this is one of the most impressive app redesigns based upon Material You theming.

Google Clock

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Similarly to Google Calculator, Android 12 Beta 5 introduced us to Google Clock app version 7.0 that provided a Material You makeover — although to a lesser extent. There are some new widgets, but we’ll focus on the main Clock app itself here.

The “timer” page is the most obvious change, with a large colored start button and various hues of your main system accent color used for the “+” and delete buttons. Those touch targets are also considerably larger here now too, which should make it easier to adjust or change settings on a whim.

Bottom bar navigation pills to highlight what section you’re currently within are also here, but there are some lovely animations when switching. The final change alters the alarm UI, which is now very minimal and has a draggable pill-shaped icon to “Snooze” or “Stop” your daily alarms.

Gmail

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One of the most-used apps on Android gained Material You theming support with some usability tweaks also included. It starts on the homescreen, with the top of the page seeing a pill-shaped search field that features a hamburger icon on the left and profile avatar/account switcher at the other end that fits the curvature. The layout of the navigation drawer is unchanged with this revamp, while various buttons in Gmail are now rounded. 

Along the bottom navbar, like many of the other first-party Google apps pill-shaped indicators are used to highlight what tab you’re currently viewing. The selected icon is also filled out, while Gmail leverages a rectangular “Compose” floating-action button just above it that shrinks as you scroll down your inbox.

Dynamic Color hues the main email list, all tabs, and the compose screen. The bottom bar, search field, and buttons leverage a darker shade, while the overflow menu also sees some theming. When selecting an email/message, the highlight color is the very same as used for your notification shade toggles.

Meet

Although still rolling out, you will be able to see the updated Material You themed Google Meet as part of the Gmail update. It’s modest and with a sprinkle of Dynamic Color thrown on the main interface and “New meeting” and “Join meeting” buttons, but that’s all that’s visible just now. The previous and upcoming Meeting list will include more colorful elements once the update fully rolls out to the main app.

Google Calendar

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Another core Workspace app, Google Calendar’s Material You refresh starts with the app bar, which gets Dynamic Color theming. This is also the case for the navigation drawer and rounded square floating-action button, which drops the four-colored “plus” sign. Meanwhile, the new floating-action button shape also applies to the Out of office, Goal, Reminder, Task, and Event toggles. To complete the overhaul, Calendar has also gained an animated splash screen when first launching on Android 12.

Google Duo

The latest Duo update rolling out right now enables full Material You support that includes a number of changes to the app’s core design. There’s an updated search bar and a rounded square for the “New Call” floating-action button.

Duo uses the wallpaper-based colors in accents, to separate UI elements, and even in text for some bits of the UI. For example, the “Create Group” and “Call my Home devices” options when starting a new call will adjust their color based on the overall theme. The in-call UI also changes the color of the text based on the same accent color, though in our testing it uses lighter shades.

Google Duo gets its Material You redesign in latest update w/ Dynamic Color support

Google Photos

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Photos version 5.59 update is less extensive as it appears to be a “work in progress” with no Dynamic Color tweaks yet. The most prominent change is the taller bottom bar that allows for a pill-shaped selection indicator. At present, these areas are just blue rather than adhering to your system theming settings, but there is plenty of extra curvature in the tools carousel and image/video editor.

Album covers also feature more prominent rounded corners, while the “Search” field at the top of the app is now pill-shaped.

Google Messages

Version 9.7.032 of Google Messages is now bringing a not-quite-finished Material You update to the popular messaging app. While the main UI has been tweaked, the Dynamic Color portion is not quite finished, with some elements not yet theming as they should for a first-party app.

In the main conversations view, the “Start chat” button is now pill-shaped and adheres to Dynamic Color, while the upper-right Settings menu and main conversation list view should have various shades of your main system theming color.

Search sees some tweaks and the background is lightly tinted throughout, but that’s curiously the extent of Dynamic Color at the moment. Unfortunately, at this stage Dynamic Color doesn’t apply to individual threads fo all users out there. It’s unclear if any shapes will change, while Google Sans is now used across the app.

Google Podcasts

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After an extensive app update last year, Google Podcasts is seeing modest tweaks to fit with Material You theming principles. On Pixel phones running Android 12, Dynamic Color is present to theme all buttons and navigation elements within the main Google Podcasts UI. Dyamic Color will tune the Now Playing screen, progress indicator, and top tabs.  While the changes are minor, it’s a good sign for how widespread the Material You mandate is at Google. The Podcasts app very rarely sees visual refreshes, so while minimal, this is substantial given the app.

Swift Walls

Wallpaper apps on Android are fairly common but not many supported the Material You theming. Swift Walls is one such option, with a cohesive and almost “stock” level implementation wallpaper picker that wouldn’t look out of place in the Styles & wallpapers section of Android 12 on Pixel devices.

A major bonus is this app even appears to adhere to Dynamic Color theming. It’s still a nice third-party wallpaper app that runs just as well as it looks. Plus, there are tons of high-quality wallpapers to choose from within.

Infinity for Reddit

Like wallpaper apps, Reddit clients on Android are also not hard to find. Infinity for Reddit is a solid client that has been available since 2019, and via the latest beta update you can get a taste of Material You theming. However, this isn’t a true implementation as you have to manually adjust the color accenting, making this a taster of when it’s fully added in an update.

Pix Material You Icons and Widgets

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You might have a device that won’t see Android 12 for a long time, but you’re itching to get some of the attractive new widgets and icons from the latest version. The answer is Pix Material You Icons and Widgets. This is just an icon pack with a few extra widgets thrown in that mimic the “official” options found on Pixel devices running Android 12.

Have a favorite Material You-themed app?

The number of choices isn’t exactly deep, but we’re likely to see a massive volume of applications start to support Material You fully over the coming months. What is your current favorite, and what are you really excited to see? Have you seen an app with the theming enabled that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments section below.

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