Gboard 8.9 redesigns sticker tab, tweaks settings [APK Insight]

The latest Gboard beta is rolling out today after features like translating emoji into GIFs and stickers emerged over the weekend. Gboard 8.9 introduces a new design for the sticker tab, while making some visual tweaks in settings.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

Sticker tab redesign

After a redesign that appeared for some beta users in August, Gboard is testing another sticker tab revamp. The new look is very similar to the original iteration, but with Material Theme icons. Instead of a full field, there’s a search button at the left followed by a tab for adding stickers.

Like the previous new design, browsing can be performed right in the keyboard, and the settings gear icon at the very right opens the full screen UI for browsing and managing favorites. Overall, this is a more compact implementation.

Keyboard height picker

Gboard 8.9 replaces the previous keyboard height picker for a standard list.

Settings list

To better account for the dark theme, the icons besides each menu item in settings have been adjusted to be brighter.

How to update?

You can sign up for Gboard’s beta program here, or by heading to the Play Store listing on Android and scrolling to the bottom. The latest beta version of Gboard is immediately rolled out by Google when it’s available.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.