Pixel Watch quietly gets its first taste of Material 3 Expressive

Although the Wear OS 6 release is still a few months away, Google seems to be quietly rolling out Material 3 Expressive elements to the Pixel Watch. The first signs of the new design are appearing in the Pixel Watch’s Calendar tiles, which now seem to embrace the display-hugging aesthetic Google has promised.

A Reddit user shared images of the updated Material 3 Expressive design showing up in two Google Calendar tiles on their Pixel Watch. In the images below, you’ll notice that the Upcoming Tasks and Events tiles are now more tailored to the round display. The “More” and “Calendar” buttons, for example, have switched to a rounded style that better matches the curvature of the screen, replacing the older, pill-shaped design. The tile graphics have also been stretched out to fill more of the display, making better use of the available space compared to the previous, more compact layout.

Google Calendar for Wear OS was recently updated, but the redesign doesn’t appear to be tied to the latest version. Instead, it looks like the changes are being pushed via a server-side update. It’s also quite possible that Google is A/B testing the new look with a limited group of users. If that’s the case, we may start seeing similar visual updates roll out across other Wear OS apps ahead of the Wear OS 6 launch, which will bring a wider rollout for the Material 3 Expressive design.