Sample Page Title

If I needed Liquid Glass, I’d purchase an iPhone. It doesn’t belong on Android. And but, I’m seeing an increasing number of of Apple’s design language — or half-baked variations of it — pop up in apps on my Google Pixel.

Android has lengthy been recognized for its customization choices. For that cause, I don’t thoughts a few of the third-party launchers which have added Liquid Glass-like design packs. For me, the difficulty shouldn’t be a couple of third-party developer giving the consumer the choice; on the contrary, the difficulty is when an app developer chooses Apple’s design language over Google’s Materials 3 Expressive because the default, resulting in an expertise that feels overseas.

Some apps are leaning on Liquid Glass greater than others. The newest and blatant implementation I’ve seen is in in style note-taking app Obsidian. This app was just lately up to date and the UI screams iOS. The round floating buttons on the high proper and left of every display screen, the floating bar on the backside, the shortage of colour — it’s all straight from iOS. To provide credit score the place it’s due, I’ll admit that the app feels native and snappy to make use of, however I might respect even just a bit effort to make the expertise more healthy for Android.

In Obsidian’s case, even simply a few small adjustments would go a great distance. For one, to distinguish from Apple’s design requirements, I’d begin by altering the 2 floating buttons on the high of the display screen. Taking some inspiration from Google’s Screenshots app, I’d change the buttons’ form to extra of a squished circle, with a narrower high and backside and longer sides. I’d additionally take away the shadows from beneath the circle and go away them flat, as you generally see with these buttons on Android.

Google’s design language does an amazing job at incorporating colours of your alternative all through the UI, and app builders may benefit from this. With Obsidian, I might like to see the choice to use my system’s Materials You colour system to the app’s UI. These buttons may use the identical colour theming I see in different apps that correctly implement this, reminiscent of Gmail and Google Messages. I have a tendency to vary my system’s colour system as soon as a month — normally correlating to a season like summer season or fall or to that month’s greatest vacation — and I like seeing these colours all through the apps I exploit. Materials You, when applied correctly, does an amazing job utilizing these colours as accents and in the fitting locations in order that it’s nice and never overwhelming to take a look at.

Telegram is one other massively in style app that may’t resolve if it needs to make use of Liquid Glass or one thing else that’s undoubtedly not Materials design. It just lately launched an overhauled design of its Android app that, at first look, appears to be like like a watered-down model of the iOS model, however upon deeper inspection, it will get even worse. Private chats nonetheless have Telegram’s outdated design on the high of the display screen, whereas the highest bar in channels — Telegram’s one-to-many broadcast choice — now seemingly resembles iOS design language.

Telegram is normally a design-forward firm, with lovely animations and a well-designed consumer expertise, and whereas the animations are nonetheless top-notch, this combination of Liquid Glass and different design decisions is a bit disappointing to me. If an organization needs to create its personal design system, that’s positive. In that case, you don’t have to make use of Apple or Google’s methods. With Telegram on Android, we’re not seeing both of these choices, however fairly a mixture of the 2. I see parts of Liquid Glass and a proprietary design system, blended into one hodgepodge of an app. The app works, however the expertise is distinctly not Android.

As I alluded to, I’m alright with an organization designing its personal UI. This may also help an organization maintain its model identification uniform throughout all of the platforms it operates on. A great instance of that is Robinhood. You gained’t discover any bits of Liquid Glass or Materials 3 Expressive in its apps, however you will note a constant design system that you could depend on from Robinhood, irrespective of the place you’re accessing it from.

Often, growing a customized design system like Robinhood’s requires quite a lot of sources, which is why many builders select to make use of elements offered in a platform’s native tooling. Within the case of Telegram, though it’s not a small developer by any means, it nonetheless selected to make use of some native tooling, but it surely’s utterly missing in consistency on Android. I really feel like I’m utilizing a wanna-be iPhone app on my Android telephone. In the meantime, its iPhone app was shortly up to date to stick to Liquid Glass pointers and animations.

I get it, these apps are companies, companies like to economize the place they will, and utilizing just one design throughout a number of platforms is certainly a cost-cutter. All I’m asking for is a bit more love for the Android aspect. When Google introduced Materials 3 Expressive, it confirmed off some extraordinarily daring concepts for what apps may appear to be with the developed design language. We’re approaching a 12 months since that announcement, and I don’t see something remotely near what Google showcased, even from Google itself. Materials 3 Expressive has a lot potential, and I actually don’t need it to go to waste.