Android 16’s new UI is the most exciting change I’ve seen in years

The lead-up to Android 16 has been … interesting. We’re four betas into the update’s rollout, and with each new beta version released, the public-facing changes are both minor and few and far between. However, more significant changes have been found under the hood, suggesting Android 16 will be a more substantial update than initially anticipated.

Now, that point has never been more true.

Android Authority recently uncovered a massive redesign hiding in Android 16 Beta 4. It’s part of Google’s new Material 3 Expressive design language — and one of the biggest UI redesigns for Android we’ve ever laid our eyes on. What we’re seeing now is an early version of it, but even so, I’m already completely sold on this new vision and future for Android as we know it.

At its core, this new design for Android 16 is largely the same as what we have in Android 15. Fundamentals like the Quick Settings, lock screen, and Settings app work as expected, but how they’re all presented is where things differ.

What I particularly love about this redesign is Google’s new emphasis on blur. Almost everywhere you look, backgrounds that were previously solid colors now have a blurred effect — and it’s gorgeous.

Your Quick Settings page, for example, replaces the stark black background with a transparent one that blurs your home screen or whatever app you’re using, giving it a lovely frosted glass effect. The app drawer gets a similar treatment. Instead of a solid color for the background, it now features the same blurred design. It’s also seen on the recent apps page and the lock screen PIN interface.

To be clear, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this type of design language. Other Android skins (like OnePlus’s OxygenOS 15) already have blurred design elements like this, and they look phenomenal. Especially when paired with good system animations (something OxygenOS 15 excels at), the transition of going to and from that blurred UI adds a level of responsiveness that feels so damn good to interact with.

While I don’t think the current design language in Android 15 is bad, what Google is working on here with Android 16 is a major leap forward. It gives Android a futuristic and polished aesthetic that’s not currently present, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Beyond the blur redesign, there are other, smaller UI changes that I’m also thrilled to see. The new colored icons in the Settings app add some much-needed visual flair and help organize related settings options at a glance. The slight change to date and weather placement on the lock screen makes it look much cleaner than before, and I even love the new volume and brightness sliders.

The more I look at Android 16’s redesign, the more I feel like a kid in a candy store. It’s so fun to see so much newness in Android for the first time in years, and it’s made me look forward to an Android update in a way I haven’t in a long time.

As much as Google’s hardware has improved in recent years, its software has remained relatively static. The last time we got an Android UI redesign of this scale was in 2021 with Android 12. That was the same year Google launched the Pixel 6 series, and the difference between the Pixel 6 and Pixel 9 is unmistakable. However, comparing Android 12 to Android 15 is like playing a challenging game of spot the difference. It’s gotten new features, sure, but it looks largely the same.

While Android 16 should function just as Android 15 does today, Google giving everything a fresh coat of paint goes a long way in making it feel big and different. And it’s not just change for the sake of it. Even in this early version, it’s apparent that Google has carved out a clear, distinctive design language. Is it polarizing? Maybe. But it’s precisely what I wanted out of Android 16.

In a world where new smartphone releases are getting more and more iterative, seeing something fresh and exciting has become increasingly rare. I’m still a big smartphone guy, but when the new Motorola Razr Plus is nearly identical to last year’s model, it’s hard to care all that much. Playing it safe is the norm, and we see it not just from Motorola, but also Samsung, Apple, and even Google.

Google is making a fairly big bet with Android 16. It could have very easily kept the design exactly the same, but instead, we’re getting the most transformative Android UI update in four years. Change is risky, but it’s also how we push forward to bigger and better things.

There’s likely plenty more to unpack with this new design, and the good news is we should learn a lot more about it at The Android Show next month and then again at Google I/O. If Android 16’s new UI already looks this good in a hidden, unfinished state, I cannot wait to see what the final version looks like.