Google TV’s subtle visual makeover begins today

Google is continuing its slow-but-steady march toward fully embracing Material 3 Expressive design principles across its ecosystem, and the latest app to get some love is Google TV. The app’s newest update, version 4.39.3356.780959673.5 — yes, that’s a real number — quietly delivers a handful of expressive Material 3 tweaks, most notably to the movie and show detail pages.

New-yet-real interface changes

With more to come, however minor

If you’ve opened up Google TV recently and felt something was… cleaner, you’re not imagining things. The update brings a subtle visual polish that leans into Google’s evolving design language. For starters, the banner at the top of each detail page is now slightly larger, giving titles and key art a bit more breathing room. Movie and show names, along with their ratings, have been repositioned and are now center-aligned, which makes the top of the UI feel more structured and intentional.

Elsewhere, Google has ditched the familiar circular border styling for the Watchlist, Watched it, Like, and Dislike buttons. They’re now flatter and more minimal, aligning with Material 3’s preference for clarity over ornamentation. Meanwhile, shortcuts in the Ratings section have moved away from chunky rounded rectangles in favor of sleeker pill-shaped buttons, lending a modern touch to the interactive elements.

There are also refinements in the Top Stories section. Image previews now sport rounded corners, matching the softer aesthetic we’ve seen rolled out across apps like Gmail, Keep, and Wallet. It’s not a dramatic redesign, but it does bring a welcome visual consistency — something Google’s app suite has historically lacked.

That said, not all the Material 3 Expressive elements teased in earlier teardowns have made the cut in this release. Some of the bolder layout changes and more dynamic color theming glimpsed in Android Authority’s code sleuthing are still MIA. It’s possible Google is holding those back for a future update, or maybe A/B testing them behind the scenes.

These refinements may not blow anyone away, but they’re part of Google’s broader push to unify its design language across platforms. With each small update, the company is slowly building a more cohesive Android experience, one app at a time.

So while you won’t find any drastic overhauls in this Google TV refresh, you will get a UI that looks and feels more in line with Google’s 2025 design vision. And let’s be honest — even small polish like this is better than staring at UI elements from 2017.