Gboard’s Material 3 redesign keeps popping up in Pixel 10 promos, still no rollout date

Google’s ongoing Pixel 10 ad campaign on social media is giving users a glimpse of the upcoming Gboard revamp. And some people are even sharing screenshots of the ad highlighting the keyboard.

However, it isn’t the first time we’ve seen the much-discussed Material 3 Expressive Gboard redesign. In fact, if you rewind a little, you’ll notice that this new keyboard look actually popped up as early as August 22 in Google’s own Magic Cue promo video for the Pixel 10.

Google’s been planting these hints out in the open, and honestly, at this point, I think it’s safe to say they’re just teasing us. 

That said, while these official teasers are fairly recent, we’ve also seen the revamped Gboard uncovered much earlier too. Back in April, the folks over at Android Authority managed to enable it through an APK teardown, and later even confirmed with an inside source that these rounded, pill-shaped keys are part of the real deal. 

If you hadn’t picked up on it, Material 3 Expressive is a pretty striking shift from the familiar rectangular and squircle shapes we’re used to tapping out messages on. Instead, you get those soft, rounded pills and bubbly five-row layouts, right in line with Google’s ongoing refresh for its Material design. While some might find the change a little bold (and sure, I’m still not totally sold on the pills either — though, knowing myself, I’ll get used to it), it’s refreshing to see Google finally shake things up for everyday users.

That said, while the redesigned Gboard is still getting its final touches added in the kitchen, one new feature that’s already making its way to some beta testers is the new font size setting. This was first spotted by 9to5Google, and they noticed the option appear on a few devices.

But since this is still an A/B test, not everyone has it yet. The setting wasn’t present on a Pixel 8 and Pixel 7a when I checked. If you want to check if you have it, go into the Gboard Settings > Preferences and look for Font size. From there, you can adjust the keyboard’s font size anywhere from 85% to a chunky 200%, completely separate from Android’s system-wide settings. Just don’t expect it to affect emoji sizes; those stay the same regardless of what font size you pick.

At this point, Google really ought to quit teasing us and just let everyone try the new design out for themselves. In the meantime, if you want to keep up with all things Pixel 10, check our dedicated section for these new flagships for more.

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