In summary:
- Tech Advisor reports that Android 17 will introduce increased blur effects and translucent design elements, including frosted backgrounds and a translucent volume bar.
- The update brings practical improvements like split Notification and Quick Settings menus, plus separate Wi-Fi and mobile data controls for better convenience.
- These visual changes offer subtle enhancement over Android 16, creating more depth while remaining less pronounced than iOS’s Liquid Glass effect.
Android 17 could be set to ramp up the blurriness with its visual design, and not in a bad way.
Internal build images seen by 9to5Google suggest that Google is cranking up the dial marked ‘blur’ with its next mobile OS, Android 17 – for its own Pixel phones, at least.
Indeed, the website has quite literally spotted mentions of the word “blur” in relation to the operating system’s new visual design.
Instances of a somewhat frosted background effect can apparently be observed throughout Android 17, alongside menus that remain solid.
The volume bar, for example, is housed in a translucent container (as seen in a leaked screenshot), showcasing whatever’s going on in the background.
There’ll be some nuance to this ‘blur’ effect, however, with reports that your selected Dynamic Colour theme will have a direct effect on the tint of any transparent elements.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Android 17 tweaks
Don’t expect any sweeping changes from Android 16, however. Google brought about a fairly radical overhaul of (eventually) with its Material 3 Expressive redesign several months into Android 16’s active lifespan. Android 17’s ramping up the blur effect is really only so much tinkering around the edges by comparison.
Indeed, the report claims that even with Android 17’s ramping up of the blurriness from Android 16, the effect remains more subtle than Liquid Glass on iOS. Thank goodness.
We recently received confirmation (of sorts) that Android 17 is set to offer the option to split the Notification and Quick Settings menus. It’s the kind of UI complication we’ve seen adopted by most Android manufacturers by this point, not to mention Apple’s iOS.
We’ve also learned that Google is offering distinct Wi-Fi and mobile data controls in the Quick Settings menu for added convenience.
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.