Google Maps is beta testing a Material 3 Expressive redesign of its watch app ahead of Wear OS 6.
Instead of three side-by-side circles for the microphone, keyboard, and map, Google splits it into two rows of prominent pills. The largest lets you open the map layer followed by search (voice by default).
The shortcuts for Home and Work are just two short pills, with Google no longer showing the address for a more efficient use of space. A teal accent color is leveraged throughout, which is what the mobile app uses. It’s unclear whether this will eventually follow your selected watch face theme.
You then get a list of Recents with updated containers for the cards. Tap “Show more” to see up to eight places.
This is followed by a grid of cards for popular searches: Restaurants, Groceries, Coffee, Restrooms, Parking, Parks, ATMs, and Transit stations. Finally, you have Offline maps, Settings, and an account switcher.
Google has also updated the “Search & go” Tile to be very dense. You can quickly jump to the map layer (which looks unchanged), Home, Work, Recents, and Nearby Places, as well as a “Search” button that hugs the screen.
We’re seeing this with the beta version (25.24) of Google Maps for Wear OS. Overall, Material 3 Expressive makes for a much more lively app compared to how the previous design was just a long list of pills.
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