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Google could soon let you use AI to create a personalized Chrome theme
A Chrome Canary feature indicates that you could deploy AI to generate a theme
If you love being able to tweak the look and feel of Chrome, you’re likely already using a custom theme, extensions, and other add-ons to personalize your experience. That being said, Google is always working on updates to enhance the UI. Now, a tweak to a setting spotted in Chrome Canary suggests that AI may be integrated into the user experience.
Discord's latest update brings a major mobile makeover, for better or worse
Organization and customization are prioritized in the redesigned app
If you’ve used Discord, you know how overwhelming it can be to have multiple conversations going at once. In between discussions happening in servers and individual DMs, it can be easy to lose track of ongoing chats. Top that with Discord’s other features, such as voice and video calls, and you might give up altogether. To remedy the pressure that can come with using the social network, Discord has now redesigned its mobile app. This time around, organization seems to be the name of the game. However, it’s the UI changes that may make or break how the update is received.
Slack's revamped UI feels like a step in the wrong direction
Adding more clicks to do the same tasks is a great way to make people upset
Back in August, Slack announced it would introduce a new user interface to increase focus and productivity. Those changes started showing up earlier this month: buttons moved around, colors changed, and — perhaps most egregious of all — the workspaces consolidated into one icon. To say that some users are not happy about these changes would be a bit of an understatement.
YouTube's latest user interface update isn't the one you were hoping for
Finally, some more consistency for the YouTube app
YouTube is a bit of a weird outlier when it comes to Android app design. While there are some interface inconsistencies among all Google apps, YouTube has long stood out as the app with a much shorter app header, a dated gray status bar, and more diversions from the norm. While its header retains its height for now, YouTube has at least finally added a seamless white status bar to its light theme.
Check out the new Material You interface for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
It won't make your documents prettier, but at least browsing through them will be
As the release of Android 12 creeps closer, Google is spreading out its new Material You design language to all the corners of its software kingdom. As of this weekend, that includes the Android version of Google Docs, and its associated Sheets and Slides tools. We're seeing the staggered rollout come in from multiple sources and tipsters.
Signal beta gets some neat design tweaks and opens up payments to more users
MobileCoin payments are now available in Switzerland, France, and Germany
The latest beta version of the Signal Android app brings a few incremental design changes as well as an expansion to the privacy-focused payments it introduced back in April. MobileCoin transactions were only available to beta testers in the UK before, but they're now being rolled out to three more countries.
Hands-on with Google Assistant Driving Mode's long-awaited home screen UI
It's not perfect, but it marks a big step forward for Android Auto's replacement
Back in the halcyon days of 2019, Google showed off "Assistant Driving Mode," a slick new interface meant to replace its aging Android Auto app on phones. After a year of delays, it finally showed up on phones last December — without that shiny new UI that made it so appealing in the first place. With Android Auto for phone screens weeks away from shutting down, Google is finally giving Assistant Driving Mode a new home screen — and it's actually pretty great.
Android 12's Material You Clock app works on older versions (APK Download)
Too bad those new widgets don't
Unless you have a spare lying around to be your real phone, I wouldn't recommend installing beta software on a device that you depend upon. But that's what we're here for! Android 12's version of the reliable Clock app is looking good in the latest beta. And it turns out that it looks pretty good on Android 11, too, because you can install the new APK from the updated version on older builds.
Spotify is getting a redesigned mini player UI with a more modern look
Rounded corners and fancy colors seem to be the order of the day
The Spotify design team likes to keep moving, which means we often get fresh elements here and there, either in testing or rolling out for real. This latest redesign is one of the most expressive we've seen for some time, introducing a new mini player UI that follows the current trend of rounding corners and adding more color.
About a month ago users on the Chromium repository led a very polite revolt against tab groups in Chrome for Android, declaring that they much preferred the option to simply open a selected link in a new tab directly. A little yellow bird told us that Google has listened to those users, and "Open in new tab" is coming back.
Google is working on a simpler homescreen for Duo
A combined button will let you start an new call, call home, or create a new group
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Have you found that the homescreen interface is confusing when you've used Duo? Actually, maybe I should back that up: have you used Duo? Google would really appreciate it if you at least tried it out. To that effect, it's listening to some users about ways to make the homescreen easier to use.
Dark mode has been soaring in popularity as a design trend over the last several years, and for good reason — it minimizes eye strain when using computers over extended periods (Editor's note: It also looks slick AF). With major platforms like macOS, Windows, and Android offering darker shades, it became clear Chrome OS had to catch up with the pack. Dark mode is still in ongoing development despite work on it dating back almost a year now, and it looks unfinished — even today. But Google hasn't thrown in the towel here, and it's now adding another highly requested feature to make dark mode even better.
Android 12's revamped Internet tile lets you switch between Wi-Fi or mobile networks anywhere
Quick tap the Quick Settings tile to switch networks, long tap to dive into the full Settings menu
With the latest beta of Android 12, Google is diving deep into some of its more substantive interface changes. One is the new "Internet" Quick Settings tile, which replaces both Wi-Fi and mobile (5G/LTE/3G) connection tiles. This one opens up a pop-up menu of local connections, allowing the user to quickly swap between them.
Google is finally fixing the awful notifications on Chrome OS
A revamped UI and notification grouping are in the works
It's no secret that notifications have been a usability nightmare for Chromebooks. The touch-centric cards are cumbersome and unintuitive to manage with a mouse — the lack of proper grouping and polish further hurts usability. Even worse, developers have done nothing to fix the awkward notification center on Chrome OS, leaving it in an unpolished state for years. But now it seems like Google is finally realizing that notifications on Chromebooks are a hot mess, and it's finally getting ready to fix its lackluster implementation.
Big changes are coming to Chrome's settings menu
Changes in Canary indicate it should be a lot easier to use soon
Do you sometimes find it hard to locate a specific setting in the Chrome browser's ever-expanding Settings menu? You're not alone. The developers of Chromium feel your pain, and they're doing something about it. A redesigned, more compartmentalized Settings menu was spotted in the Chromium.org developer discussion, coming soon to a browser (or lightweight operating system) near you.
Spotify's finally rolling out that snazzy new library UI
Coming next week, complete with new tags and filters for easier sorting
For several months now, Spotify has been testing a new interface for its library on mobile devices. Redesigns can be controversial, but the response to the UI changes on Android has mainly been positive. Although many of Spotify's users have had access to the improved library management since February, its new UI design is finally official.
Check if your Sony Android TV will get the new Google TV-inspired UI
Get a taste of the new Google TV experience on your Sony Android TV
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Google started rolling out a redesigned, Google TV-inspired facelift for the Android TV homescreen earlier this year, and now, that new interface is finally finding its way to Sony's Android TV sets. According to 9to5Google, the manufacturer is sending out emails to owners, telling them that their "Sony Android TV just got a whole lot better."
Here's how to use the new Google Play Store interface that's arriving now
Say goodbye to the hamburger menu
If you take a look at the Google Play Store on your phone today, you may notice things have shifted around a bit. A new version of the interface has been appearing for a small number of users over the last week or so, but seems to rolling out more quickly now. This slight shift to the UI gets rid of the familiar hamburger menu (the three horizontal bars that used to be on the left of the search bar at the top), and instead has you tapping on your Google profile icon to get to more of the non-obvious elements of the Store.
Samsung's Penup drawing app gets a refreshed UI with layer support
it's also easier to find coloring book pages
Users of Samsung Galaxy Note devices (or any Android device, since it's available on the Play Store for any phone) should be seeing a new version of the Penup app now. The refreshed sketch app is mostly the same as it was before, but it now has support for multiple layers, a welcome pro move for a drawing app with a surprisingly active community.
Amazon app picks up new UI with bottom bar navigation and better Whole Foods integration
It appears to be a server-side change, so you may not see it right away
If you rely on Amazon's dedicated shopping app to peruse the digital aisles, you might have noticed a change recently. The dedicated Android app for Amazon's storefront is seeing some significant tweaks, most notably a new general navigation bar on the bottom of the screen. The updated interface doesn't seem to be tied to a specific version of the app (we tried one on multiple phones), so this may be a server-side switch.