NEW YORK, Dec 23: Google Chat underwent a significant redesign in November, introducing a fresh look with a streamlined navigation system featuring a new bottom bar. The updated design enhances the overall app experience, offering users new menu options. Although Google announced the change in its Google Workspace Updates blog, the rollout to smartphones has taken a few weeks. The latest Chat app update on the Google Play Store, dated December 5, suggests that the redesign is being enabled on Google's server-side backend.

While our team has yet to receive the update on our phones, reports from 9to5Google indicate that some users have already experienced the redesign. Despite Google initially stating that the changes would take effect by November 29, the gradual rollout is taking longer than anticipated, now extending to three weeks since November 19.

For those with access to the new look, the bottom bar now features a floating pill with four icons for Home, Direct messages, Spaces, and Mentions. Additionally, a squared floating action button (FAB) allows users to create a new chat. In the Gmail app, the entire bar, including the Chat pill and New Chat button, is now an FAB that appears when pressing the middle chat icon on the bottom bar in Gmail.

The substantial changes brought by the redesign align Google Chat more closely with other Google apps that have undergone updates with Material You aesthetics in recent years. However, some users express uncertainty and lack of enthusiasm for the design changes in Chat and other Google Suite apps, noting a diminishing sense of individuality among Google's software.

Designed for a wide range of users, Google Chat is particularly popular among business and enterprise accounts. Accessible on Android, iOS, and web browsers, it provides flexibility for communication on various devices. While the redesign aims to enhance user experience, some users question the broader trend of uniformity across Google's suite of applications, lamenting the loss of individuality that once characterized each software.