First look: Google’s Phone app is getting a tasty Android 16 redesign (APK teardown)

Google is working on a visual overhaul of Android 16, using its Material 3 Expressive design. We’ve already spotted a few Google apps with similar tweaks, and we’ve now uncovered a major overhaul of Google’s Phone app.

We cracked open the Phone by Google app (version 177.0.763181107-publicbeta-pixel2024) and enabled the app’s redesign. The visual tweaks apply to the incoming call and in-call menus. Check out the gallery below for a comparison.

The redesigned screens reflect the Material 3 Expressive style, featuring much larger contact names and caller photos. The redesigned app mostly eliminates simple circular buttons too in favor of larger, oval-shaped buttons that change shape when pressed. The answer call button still has the same circular icon, though, but the end call button is much larger and pill-shaped.

There are several other smaller tweaks too. These include the omitted “call from” text on the incoming call screen, the phone number being shown after you answer the call, and the redesigned “more” menu in line with Material 3 Expressive.

The Google Phone app also offers a little animation for your incoming caller’s profile picture before you answer the call. Check out a slowed-down version of this and other app animations below.

These Google Phone tweaks also come after we discovered Material 3 Expressive changes coming to the Google One, Google Meet, and Google TV apps. We expect plenty more Google apps to get visual changes in the coming months.

In any event, we’re glad to see Google making progress on redesigning its apps. But you won’t necessarily need Android 16 to see these overhauled apps, as we’re expecting these app redesigns to be available on earlier Android versions too.