Gmail’s overly bright Material Design update is now available to all Android users through an update on the Google Play Store after being announced last month, as well as beginning its roll out on iOS, too.
The update brings new design elements like the company’s Google Sans font (aka “Pixel” font), a new search bar that will live at the top of the display, and it got rid of the red menubar that used to be a cornerstone of the app. Google has also cleaned up the overall design a bit so that things look less crowded.
Image: Google
The key thing is that the app is very bright. For some reason, taking away that red bar on the top of the screen makes it so much more obvious that the rest of the display is basically a solid white block of text now. It’s enough to make you want to turn down the brightness on your phone in some cases.
Despite the new coat of paint, it’s still Gmail, and it should work as well as the Gmail app always does. The update is available for all Android users today, has begun its rollout for iOS users as well. (Sunglasses not included.)
Update February 21st, 9:30am: Updated post to note that the new design has began to rollout to iOS users too.
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