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Google News smartphone app gets limited Material You makeover

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By Alan Friedman

Published: Apr 30, 2023, 11:53 PM

Apps Google

Google News smartphone app gets limited Material You makeover

Google's Material You design language has been used to update several Google apps including some very popular ones such as Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Photos. Now the Material You look is coming to the Google News smartphone app. The changes include a pill-shaped indicator that highlights the tab that you've selected at the bottom of the page. The dynamic theming feature, which changes the color of the app's interface to match the dominant color of the wallpaper being used on an Android device, is not working yet as the app defaults to a blue color for accents.

The tablet version of the Google News app has already been through the Material You makeover which added a navigation rail on the left-hand side with buttons for Headlines, Newsstand, Following, and For You. The same blue pill used to highlight the selected tab being viewed on the smartphone version is used to highlight the selected tab on the navigation rail.

The Google News smartphone app gets some Material You design&nbsp; language at the bottom of the page - Google News smartphone app gets limited Material You makeover

The Google News smartphone app gets some Material You design language at the bottom of the page

Keep in mind that the Material You additions to the smartphone version of the Google News app has yet to be disseminated to everyone. It did hit the Google News app running on my Pixel 6 Pro running QPR3 Beta 3 but if you haven't received this version of the app, you will soon.

Google News tablet version of the app. Image credit 9to5 Google

There is no indication from Google about when the rest of the Material You features will be made available to the Google News app. The app gives you a briefing on the top stories, shows you local news from your area, takes deep dives into stories with multiple perspectives, and will even show you stories based on your interests. If you want to have the Google News app on your Android phone, you can tap on this link to install it from the Play Store. Apple iPhone users can tap on this link to install it from the App Store.

One feature of Google News that you might appreciate is the one that shows different takes on the same story from various online publications. Look for the button that says "Full Coverage of this story" and tap on it. You'll see a list of different online publications that covered the same story all with their own take on the same event.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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