Gmail Android Widget Gets A New Material 3 Expressive Redesign

The Gmail widget for Android is getting a visual update from Google. This change makes improvements based on Material 3 Expressive, the company’s main design language meant to bring the mobile operating system up to date in terms of how it looks and feels.

This update is in line with a trend of making other Google Workspace apps more modern. Although the changes are minor, they improve the home screen experience in useful ways and give Google’s widgets a more unified look and feel.

Among the most significant modifications is the floating email compose button, which now has a pill-shaped form to conserve space. The button used to look like a rounded square in the Material You style.

The new format aligns better with the most recent widget patterns used by Google, as shown in an image shared by 9to5Google.

Another change that stands out is the smaller widget header. Gmail can now display the app icon before the folder name, such as “Inbox,” without significantly reducing the usable space, with the exception of widgets with extremely narrow widths. Basically, this change can make room for one more line of text at the bottom.

Starting with version 2025.12.01 of the Gmail app for Android, the new Gmail widget has been made available.

The redesign strengthens Google’s continued adoption of Material 3 Expressive; the visual language has already reached widgets for Google Calendar and Drive, along with interface changes in Chrome and Google’s keyboard app, Gboard. Other apps, such as Keep and Tasks, have not yet received a similar redesign.

Filed in Cellphones. Read more about GMail and Google.