In Short:
- Google Photos on the web gets a visual refresh with Material 3 design.
- The update brings a cleaner interface with rounded corners and a light blue accent.
- While functionality remains unchanged, it improves consistency across devices.
Google’s web applications are progressively embracing the modern Material 3 design language, and Google Photos is the latest to join the party. This update focuses primarily on aesthetics, offering a more streamlined and cohesive user experience, particularly for tablet users.
The most noticeable change lies in the core photo gallery. It’s now housed within a container featuring a clean white background and gentle rounded corners, reflecting the current Material 3 trends. This design element extends to the search bar, which adopts a subtle pill-shaped form. However, the extremely light color scheme makes the search field’s borders almost indistinguishable.
Beyond the photo gallery, the update revamps the navigation drawer with a new tab indicator. The overall color scheme utilizes a very light blue background, occasionally bordering on gray. Notably absent is the much-anticipated Dynamic Color feature, which personalizes app appearances based on user preferences. While some speculate about potential future integration with mobile themes, or even a basic theme picker at the app or account level, such features haven’t materialized yet.
Although the update doesn’t introduce any groundbreaking functionalities, it serves as a welcome modernization for Google Photos on the web. This refresh brings Google Photos in line with the visual language used in other Google web apps like Gmail, Drive, and Docs, promoting a more consistent user experience across devices, especially for those who frequently switch between desktops and tablets.
