Android and Wear OS are getting a big refresh

5 hours ago 1

May 13, 2025

[[read-time]] min read

Material 3 Expressive is making using your phone and watch more fluid, personal and glanceable.

Mindy Brooks

VP of Product Management and User Experiences, Android Platform

Bullet points

"Android and Wear OS are getting a big refresh" details major updates to both systems.
Material 3 Expressive brings huge personalization options to Android.
Expect smoother animations and more intuitive interactions.
Wear OS 6 boasts improved battery life and a refined design.
Dynamic color themes now work across Google apps and Wear OS.

Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental.

Basic explainer

Android and Wear OS phones and watches are getting a big makeover. It'll let you customize the look and feel more than ever. Things will be smoother and easier to use. New updates will also improve battery life.

Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental.

Haiku-ish

Android's new look,
Material 3, smooth and bright,
Google apps adapt.

Wear OS shines now,
Fluid round display's design,
Ten percent more life.

Pixel phones first,
Customization's the key here,
Express your own style.

Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental.

Seven phone screens side by side showing different parts of a phone user experience including messages, alarms, clock, that are in the Material 3 Expressive design.

Personalization is core to Android, and Material 3 Expressive — one of our biggest updates in years — is all about making your device feel unique to you. Material 3 Expressive gives you new ways to show your style and personality, delivers smooth interactions and surfaces glanceable, helpful information.

A more personal, expressive phone experience

Nearly four years ago, we brought our award-winning Material You design to billions of Android phones and tablets, making them feel more human, approachable and grounded in your needs. Material 3 Expressive builds on Material You, bringing even more customization options so you can truly express yourself.

Material 3 Expressive feels even more fluid and introduces a system of more natural, springy animations meant to bring a moment of delight to everyday routines. For example, when you dismiss a notification, the others next to it subtly respond to your drag. And when you snap it off the stack, you feel a satisfying haptic rumble.

You get similar moments like this across your device, like when you’re dismissing an app in your recent apps screen, fidgeting with the volume slider or flinging down the shade. We even subtly blur the shade background to provide a sense of depth, so the motion feels lightweight and you’re able to stay aware of the apps you’re using in the background.

Android is also getting updated dynamic color themes, responsive components and emphasized typography so you can customize your phone to your style and preferences. And we are working to bring these visual choices across Google apps like Google Photos, Fitbit and Gmail.

The design balances modern aesthetics with improved functionality. You can now customize Quick Settings to squeeze in more of your favorite actions like Flashlight and Do Not Disturb. And we’re making sure that your important stuff doesn’t get buried in your notifications.

The all-new Live Updates feature helps you easily track progress notifications from select apps. For example, after placing an Uber Eats order, you get a glanceable Live Update to track your delivery progress. These real-time updates from top delivery, rideshare and navigation apps are front and center so you won’t miss them.

A fluid design built for your watch's round display

On your watch, Material 3 Expressive’s design centers the round display. The design is inherently fluid with scrolling animations that trace the curvature of the display. As you scroll, lists animate to give you a sense of depth that makes information more accessible. We’ve also refreshed daily experiences like using the pin pad and controlling media with motion and responsive feedback. And your watch features smooth transitions with shape-morphing elements that adapt to the smaller screen size.

Round watch display swiping through the notifications, quick settings, tiles and setting an alarm to show the fluid motion and transitions.

And we’re bringing dynamic color-theming to the watch so that the theme you choose for your watch face applies to the entire system.

The left side cycles through different people wearing different color clothing including pink, blue and orange and the right side is a watch display that changes its colors to match the person. In the middle is a circle with different colors that match the overall theme.

We’ve also created a system of glanceable buttons that stretch to hug the display; they’re space-efficient and easily tappable. Tiles are also more engaging, providing quick access to information or actions that matters most, like texting your favorite contacts or starting a workout.

On the left shows a series of notifications extracted from a watch into a long scroll and the right shows the same notifications compacted into a watch display

And with Wear OS 6, we’re continuing to improve performance and optimize power — in fact, this update delivers up to 10% more battery life.

There are so many more design improvements we’re working with our partners to bring to Android 16 and Wear OS 6 devices. You can try these updates first on Pixel devices later this year.