Google phone app on Wear OS gets Material 3 expressive redesign

At a glance:

• Phone by Google on Wear OS now opens to a Recents feed with Dynamic Color cards
• New Material 3 Expressive UI adds large contact and dialer buttons, plus updated dialpad symbols
• Contacts app gains searchable keyboard/voice, refreshed card layout and optional grid for larger watches (45 mm vs 41 mm)

What’s new in the Phone app

The core overhaul replaces the old list‑based home screen—formerly showing Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Dialpad and Voicemail—with a modern Recents feed. Each recent call appears as a card that automatically adopts the watch’s Dynamic Color palette, giving a more vibrant, personalized look. At the top of the screen, two prominent buttons give instant access to the Contacts list and the Dialpad, streamlining the most common actions.

The Dialpad itself has been rebuilt using Material 3 Expressive containers. The familiar numeric keys now sit inside larger, thematically coloured tiles, and scrolling down still reveals the *, # and + symbols that users expect. Google notes that the redesign is “much needed modernization,” aligning the app with the visual language introduced in Wear OS 7 while remaining functional on Wear OS 6 when running version 165 of the Phone by Google app.

Contacts app refresh

Alongside the Phone app changes, the Contacts app on Wear OS received its own redesign, highlighted in the Wear OS 7 changelog for the Pixel Watch. A new search bar now offers both a keyboard and a voice‑search button when you tap the magnifying glass, making it faster to locate a contact from the wrist.

Contact detail pages have been re‑imagined with Material 3 elements: the contact’s photo appears on the left, and two action buttons—call and message—are placed prominently for one‑tap communication. Google also introduced a brand‑new layout for favorite contacts. On devices with a larger display (the 45 mm Pixel Watch), the favorite list switches from a vertical list to a grid, while the smaller 41 mm model retains the classic list view.

Availability and version details

The redesign is visible after updating to Wear OS 7, but users on Wear OS 6 who have installed Phone by Google version 165 will see the same UI changes. The update rolled out automatically through the Google Play Store, and no manual intervention is required beyond the standard OS upgrade. Pixel Watch owners can verify they are on the latest version by opening the app’s Settings screen and checking the version number.

Why the redesign matters

Google’s shift to Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS reflects a broader strategy to bring the same design consistency across phones, tablets, and wearables. By leveraging Dynamic Color, the Phone app now feels more integrated with the watch’s overall theme, potentially improving user satisfaction and reducing friction when handling calls on the go. The refreshed Contacts experience also hints at future deeper integrations, such as richer context‑aware actions directly from the wrist.

Looking ahead

Analysts expect Google to continue polishing the Wear OS ecosystem, especially as the Pixel Watch gains market traction. Future updates may expand the grid layout to more screen sizes, introduce AI‑driven call suggestions, or add tighter sync with Android’s broader contact management features. For now, the Material 3 Expressive redesign sets a new visual benchmark for smartwatch communication apps.