Simplified Navigation: Google Maps Unveils Refreshed Bottom Bar
Google Maps aficionados may notice a sleeker navigation experience as the app introduces a streamlined bottom bar with a reduced number of tabs. This change is part of a broader redesign effort for the Android application, which Google hinted at earlier in March, promising a “cleaner home screen with fewer tabs.” The fresh interface is gradually making its way to users, marking yet another evolution in the app’s design language.
The revamped user interface was showcased for the first time at the Google I/O 2024 conference. The update trims the bottom bar from five to a more manageable three tabs, labeled “Explore,” “You,” and “Contribute.” While “Explore” and “Contribute” are carryovers from the previous layout, the new “You” tab is a consolidation of the former “Saved,” “Go,” and “Updates” tabs, now housed under one roof for a more integrated user experience.
The “You” tab is the biggest change on the Google Maps simplified bottom bar
The “You” tab, while sporting the familiar icon of the old “Saved” tab, has undergone significant functional changes. Within this tab, “Saved trips” takes the place of the old “Go” tab, and notifications once found in “Updates” are now accessible via a bell icon in the top-right corner, complete with a badge indicator for new alerts or updates.
Despite these updates, the Google Maps bottom bar has not yet fully embraced the Material You design aesthetic, which would allow it to adapt to the dominant color theme of the user’s device. Nevertheless, a report from 9to5Google suggests that future iterations of the app will feature an image carousel akin to that found in the Google Photos app.
The new design is currently available to a select group of users following the latest update to Google Maps (version 11.127.x). In addition to the sleeker bottom bar, Google had also announced plans to introduce a variety of pin colors to enhance the mapping experience, though this feature has yet to be implemented.
