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Google is rolling out a homepage redesign for the Drive mobile app. Both Android and iOS apps are getting a minor UI revamp to “help you more easily find the right file much faster.” The company was first spotted working on this UI redesign last week. The changes should reach all users within the next week or so.
Google Drive updated with a more compact homepage
Google Drive has a slightly different homepage UI for personal accounts and Workspace users. For personal accounts, the first two tabs on the bottom bar are called Home and Starred. For users with a Workspace account, they are Priority and Workspaces, respectively. It appears Google is changing this, calling the tabs Home and Starred for all users.
While it’s only a rename for the bottom tabs, the top tabs under the Home section are seeing a broader UI redesign. The Suggested tab no longer uses cards to show files. Those cards included a preview of the file and took up a large space on the screen. You could only see two files on the screen at a time. Google has replaced it with a more compact list view.
With this change, we can now see around ten recommended files on the screen. These are files that have been “recently opened, shared, or edited.” Google notes the most recent activity, such as who opened the file, edits, comments, and replies, underneath the file name, complete with a date or timestamp.
The Notifications tab at the top is also getting a new name—Activity. Google added an Activity feed to Drive on the web last month, so this appears to be a change to make the app more uniform across platforms. Interestingly, the company is using cards with file previews in this feed where you find items with pending access requests, recent comments, and approval requests. You can use chips to filter files.
There’s a new “camera” FAB too
This Google Drive UI update also brings a new “camera” FAB (floating action button). The circular button appears above the existing “plus” FAB, which has been changed from square to rectangle to add the text “New.” The camera FAB will make scanning documents faster. The feature previously resided within the plus/new button.
According to Google, this update also makes the app remember the last opened tab. “If you do not want to use the home tab, the app will simply open up on whatever tab you last used, such as Shared or Files,” the company said. This Google Drive redesign will be available to all Workspace customers and users with personal accounts. The rollout has already begun on both Android and iOS.
