Long-awaited Redesign Brings Simplified Settings and Enhanced Aesthetic Integration
Google is gearing up to revamp its long-neglected Google Search widget with support for Material You, offering users a more modern and cohesive design experience. The anticipated update, although still hidden, promises a significant overhaul to the widget’s appearance and customization options.
Amidst Google’s ongoing efforts to align its apps and widgets with Material Design 3 guidelines, the Google Search widget has remained notably untouched, standing as one of the few outliers in Google’s design ecosystem. However, recent developments suggest that this may soon change, as a new settings page under development unveils a glimpse of the widget’s Material You theme option.
The forthcoming redesign introduces a fresh interface for widget settings, marked by a prominent widget preview at the top and simplified customization options below. Notably, users can now choose from four pre-designed color themes—System default, always light, always dark, or device theme—streamlining the customization process and ensuring better integration with the user’s device aesthetics.
Gone are the days of cumbersome manual color picking, as the update integrates a transparency slider directly below the theme selections, enhancing user accessibility and convenience. While the manual color picker and custom theme creation options have been removed in the redesign, the device theme toggle promises to automatically match the widget’s colors to the user’s device theme, minimizing the need for manual adjustments.
Additionally, the redesign streamlines the theming options by removing the ability to choose different shapes and limiting the logo choice to the iconic “G” logo, foregoing the option to display the full Google name.
While the new widget settings are not yet widely available, enthusiasts can access them through rooted devices by activating specific flags. With the interface appearing polished and near completion, it’s likely that the rollout may happen sooner rather than later, offering users a refreshed Google Search widget experience.
