A new Material Design look is in the process of rolling out for Google Maps on Android devices. The update is a cloud-side change but you’ll want to make sure that you have the latest version of the app installed on your phone. For those curious, that’s version 9.79.2. Since this is a cloud-side update to Google Maps, not everyone is seeing the changes just yet. It will likely be several days before all accounts get it.
Once you do, the changes will be immediately noticeable. Gone are the square information blocks and icons on the Explore tab, replaced with bright, rounded corner information boxes and round icons.
When you are navigating, the route and start buttons to make your way along your route have been updated to rounded “pill” style buttons while the fonts in the app have generally been updated to make them easier to read.
For their part, Google has been doing a lot of updating to their apps over the past few months to bring more Material Design to them. The biggest example lately has to be Google News, both in the new app for the service as well as on the News site. Further, rumors suggest that we will see a Material Design make over coming to Android Messages in the near future.
If you aren’t seeing the new look to Google Maps, give it some time. Google tends to phase these types of updates out so it could take a few days before everyone sees it.
