Google Phone app gets short Material 3 Expressive bottom bar - 9to5Google

Google Phone now fully aligns with Material 3 Expressive after trimming its bottom navigation bar.

What changed in version 204:

• Shorter bottom bar with reduced padding above the pill-shaped tab indicator
• Refined text labels under Home, Keypad, and Voicemail
• Visual impact is most noticeable in dark theme; actual space savings are minor

How to get it:

• Rolling out via server-side update; even on v204 you may need to open App info and Force stop to see the new bar

Why it matters:

• Brings consistency with other Google apps, following a similar update to Google Home last month
• Not yet adopted by Google Photos, with stragglers like Google Fi and Google Voice still on the older style

What’s still missing:

• The "Keep portrait mode" setting hasn’t returned
• Expressive Calling remains in beta

Related Material 3 Expressive updates: Google Meet for Android, the Gmail widget, Gboard shortcuts, and Google Drive have all seen recent tweaks.

Source: https://9to5google.com/2026/01/19/google-phone-m3-expressive-bottom-bar/