Google has been quite stubborn when it comes to updating the look of its apps on iOS. The company has rocked Material Design for its apps instead of the custom UIKit on iOS. Now, the company seems to be finally moving away with it. Scroll down to read more details on the subject.
Google Apps on iOS Will Move Away From Material Design and Adopt Apple's UIKit for a Consistent User Experience
Google's suite of apps on iOS and iPadOS includes Google Maps, Gmail. Google Photos, YouTube, and Good Drive. All of these apps have used Google's custom interfaces that look like Android apps. For more than a decade, iOS users have been users Google apps with the same design and it looks the company will finally make a shift to UIKit.
Google's point to stick to its Material Design was to unify the software design across different devices for a consistent experience. Now, Jeff Verkoeyen has explained in his recent Twitter thread that Google will switch to designing its apps using Apple's UIKit. He also mentioned that previously using UIKit was not a viable option as there were "gaps" in the design language. In addition, the executive also highlighted the negative aspect of the company's plan which was "drifting further and further from Apple platform fundamentals because those fundaments were also evolving year over year."
Users have complained that using Google apps on iOS was turning into a jarring and inconsistent experience compared to the rest of the operating system. Since the launch of iOS 14 last year, Google states that UIKit's design has improved sufficiently to use in iOS as well as iPadOS. Earlier this year, Google's design team that works on apps for Apple's platforms "began a deep evaluation of what it means to build a hallmark Google experience on Apple platforms by critically evaluating the space of "utility" vs key brand moments, and the components needed to achieve either."
We will see in the near future how Google apps on iOS adopt less of its custom Material Design while moving towards Apple's UIKit. This will be evident in controls, bars, switches, lists, and menus in the near future. Take note that we can expect some of Google's Material Design elements to exist alongside the shift.
This is all for now, folks. How has your experience been when using Google apps on iOS?
