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The piecemeal beta rollout of M3 Expressive (M3E) in the Google Phone app continues with version 185.
Google is using M3 Expressive as an opportunity to revamp how the Phone app is organized, with iOS 26 amusingly also doing the same thing with its big Liquid Glass redesign this year.
The “Favorites” tab is being merged with “Recents” and is now just a carousel at the top of that feed, which is being renamed “Home.” Google is getting rid of the dialer FAB (floating action button) in favor of a “Keypad” tab in the bottom bar. “Voicemail” is unchanged, with the other big change being a navigation drawer that now houses Contacts, Settings, Clear call history, and Help & feedback.
Those navigation updates started rolling out last month for some beta users. Some testers have the old app layout but Material 3 Expressive redesign (with containers for the Home list), while others have both aspects for a somewhat chaotic rollout.
L-R: Nav updates, M3E redesign, & both
With beta version 185, more Material 3 Expressive is rolling out. A device of ours that just had the navigation updates now has the M3E redesign.
Meanwhile, this also includes wide availability of the M3E Settings page where you can set the Incoming call gesture to Horizontal swipe or Single tap, while the in-call interface makes use of the latest shapes.
The Home and Keypad tabs with the navigation drawer are not yet widely available, but those that still have the FAB will notice rounded top corners for that bottom sheet.
Hopefully, the stable rollout will be a bit more straightforward and happen in one go. Be sure to share what you’re seeing as of Phone by Google 185:
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