Google Calendar rolls out Material You widget redesign

Abner Li | Aug 8 2023 - 10:50 am PT

Following last month’s announcement, Google Calendar for Android is now rolling out a Material You redesign of its two homescreen widgets.

Starting with the list that is the “Calendar schedule,” there are no changes to widget sizing. As such, this list view can be as small as 2×2, which is a popular configuration, or take up your entire homescreen.

The app bar has been removed, though you still get the day and date in the top-left corner. The standalone plus sign has been removed and replaced with a FAB, which is common in various Material You widgets, like Google Keep. Notably, that button floats above content and is always available as a result.

The light or dark background has been replaced by Dynamic Color theming, while the day/date is much larger in the 2×2 size. Large configurations see fewer visual changes, though there’s a lot more spacing.

Google Calendar’s information density goes down with this redesign, and smaller widgets are impacted the most. That said, it’s not too extreme.

Google has also updated the “Calendar month view” widget with a themed background, which makes a big difference, and FAB in the top-right corner. The arrows are moved left as a result, while Material 3’s extra padding is on display here.

Google first teased the widget redesign in October of 2021. These Material You widgets are rolling out now with version 2023.30.0.x of Google Calendar. There is a server-side component that might require you to Force stop the application from App info and then replace your widget if the changes are not yet visible. (The preview in the widget picker has not been updated.)