Google Photos Android Finally Gets the Compact Bottom Navigation Bar

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TL;DR

The Google Photos app on Android is being updated with a new navigation button layout.

The new bottom bar is visually smaller and persistent across different views in the Photos app.

This version has been available on iOS since early 2026, but is new for Android users.

Early this year, Google rolled out a nice little UI tweak for Google Photos . The app’s bottom navigation bar was redesigned in a February update, making it more compact and allowing more of your photos to show through. At the time, that update only hit the iOS version of Photos — but now, it’s rolling out broadly on Android, too.

The redesigned bottom bar is now available for many users on Android, as spotted by 9to5Google . We’re seeing it on our own phones here at Android Authority, too.