The latest release of the app brings some tablet-specific interface changes
The arrival of Android 13 is one of the first things in a long time for an operating system. It adds functional beauty to the Material You design guidelines that Google introduced in its predecessor, Android 12. These guidelines themselves have evolved since their introduction, with some first-party Google apps falling behind. The latest app to try out the new look is Google News, as the app updates the tablet view with some Material Design 3 (MD3) components.
Google News 5.71 introduces a number of visual changes that you’ll notice when using the app on your Android tablet, as shared in the Google News Telegram group. The most noticeable tweak is the vertical navigation rail on the left, with buttons for sections such as Headlines, Newsstand, Following, and Featured. This design sets it apart from the bottom vertical navigation rails you still see in mobile phone apps.
Other notable differences include a card-style layout for news content with rounded top corners. This separates scrollable sections of articles and app settings from fixed components of his UI like navigation rails and headers. The search bar has also moved from a bland rectangle to a rectangle with rounded corners.
The first hints of Material You design appeared in the Google News app last May, so these changes shouldn’t come as a surprise. Google has since updated many other first-party apps in the spec with MD3 guidelines, including Google TV.
If you’re a tablet user and want to see the changes for yourself, version 5.72 of Google News is available on APKMirror and ready to install.