Google Phone App Gets Short Material 3 Expressive Bottom Bar

Google Phone App Gets Short Material 3 Expressive Bottom Bar

Google Phone App Gets Shorter Material 3 Bottom Bar—Here’s What Changed If you’ve opened the Google Phone app recently and noticed it looks slightly sleeker, you’re not imagining things. Google has rolled out a subtle but meaningful design update: the bottom navigation bar is now shorter, fully aligning the app with Material 3 Expressive guidelines. This change affects how users interact with core tabs like Home, Keypad, and Voicemail—and while it doesn’t save much screen space, it brings the dialer app in line with Google’s latest visual language across Android. Credit: Google The update arrived in stable version 204, which began rolling out the week of January 13, 2026. Unlike past overhauls, this tweak is primarily aesthetic—but it reflects Google’s ongoing push for design harmony across its ecosystem. What’s New in the Google Phone App Update? The most noticeable change is the reduced height of the bottom navigation bar. Previously, the bar featured generous padding above the pill-shap…