Joe Maring / Android Authority

TL;DR Google is reportedly bringing new logos for Google Photos and Maps.

With this change, the apps are expected to get gradient icons as was recently rolled out for the Home app.

As with the Google and Home apps, these new logos depict its shift towards an AI-first approach.

New logos or app icons typically mark significant shifts in identity for brands. In 2020, Google refreshed the icons — which have confused users to date — for several of its apps to highlight the more connected experiences across apps. More recently, it has been transitioning to new logos that depict its shift towards AI.

Following the recent changes to the logos, along with app icons, for the Google and Home apps on Android, the tech giant appears to be preparing for a wider refresh. Two more apps may soon receive their own versions of new icons with a more fluid, gradientized appearance: Google Photos and Maps.

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The new icons for these apps were recently shared with 9to5Google by an unidentified source. They haven’t been released widely, but the level of finesse indicates they might be here soon.

As seen in the images below, both Maps and Photos ditch the separating lines for a diffusing gradient bridging the two colors.

While the shape of the Photos icon is largely unchanged, Maps appears broader, yet retains its pin shape. The pointy edge of the pin also appears curvier than before.

These icons represent Google’s “evolution in the AI era” and indicate an infusion of more AI features. Google has been on a never-ending pursuit to add more Gemini features to Google Photos and has also been testing its integration with Google Maps. It’s safe to presume the broader availability of these changed icons will coincide with the release of these Gemini-backed features in the apps.

Similarly, we could also expect more apps that use Google’s four-color icons to adopt this gradient look eventually.

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