A new reader survey is finding that Google’s latest visual refresh is hitting exactly as hard as the company had hoped.
Among over 3,000 votes, nearly 63 percent of users expressed their love for the Material You Expressive facelift in Android 16, while another 27.9 percent described it as “ok.” Only 8.86 percent said they dislike the changes—a remarkable level of consensus in the often fractious universe of UI refreshes.
A big thumbs-up from users on Android 16’s redesign
Put another way, almost nine out of ten users surveyed rated the new look somewhere between acceptable and excellent. That’s a clear sign that residues of the Expressive direction—such as bolder color accents, improved hierarchy and structure, and more tactile surfaces—are giving long-standing demands for personality and polish in UX treatment, without sacrificing usability.
The sample group has some 3,000-plus responses in it, which is large enough that it offers a credible snapshot of enthusiast sentiment. It’s not a scientific comparison, but it reflects the kind of anecdotal chatter I’ve heard from many early adopters of the P beta: Android feels fresher, more coherent, and generally better than ever before, minus any taste of gimmickry.
What you’re actually getting with Material 3 Expressive
Expressive builds on Material 3’s core tenets—vibrant color, clear typography, and flexible layouts—but shifts the dial toward personality and lucidity. The most noticeable day-to-day difference comes from Quick Settings, which has been regrooved with resizable and rearrangeable tiles for speedier access to the controls that actually matter to you. Power users have welcomed the ability to prioritize Wi‑Fi, flashlight, and battery saver in bigger tiles, while relegating less-used toggles neat and tiny.
Elsewhere, the system doubles down on bolder accent colors based on your wallpaper, tighter contrast for better readability, and more consistent iconography throughout settings and system apps. Motion is subtler too, more purposeful—menus feel less floaty than before; transitions suggest what is going on behind the scenes without dragging their heels about it all. The end result is a UI that feels more sure of itself, and reads faster at a passing glance.
These decisions are complementary to the Google Material Design team’s recommendations for skeleton-loading patterns, predictable motion, and accessible color contrast to give a perceived performance bump as well as enhanced readability. The Expressive layer just throws some personality behind that guidance.
Why Android 16’s Expressive direction resonates
Three words continue to dominate user feedback: control, clarity, and consistency. Quick Settings tiles that you can customize enable control—letting people mold the shade to fit their habits. Nicer headers, spacing, and contrast enhance the scannability of this stuff, which matters when you’re poking around in settings one-handed. And consistency means less jarring transitions between system features and first-party apps.
Where criticism remains and what users still want
Not everyone is sold. The biggest complaints focus on spacing and density—some users find tiles and menus too spread out, which results in extra scrolling. Others bemoan the ultra-tight grids that are seen in some OEM skins, suggesting that the new layout is sacrificing information density for aesthetics.
A second point of friction is inconsistency while third-party apps get on board. Until more developers update to the latest Material 3 components or Jetpack Compose Material 3, there is a stark contrast between the system’s modern finish and an app’s older UIs. That’s just a temporary problem—but it’s noticeable in the short term.
Dev impact, and what this means for OEMs
This reception should facilitate faster adoption of the latest Material libraries. Developers who are already using Material Components or Compose can rely on refreshed tokens for color, typography, and elevation to better align with the system. That not only makes your app more cohesive but can also alleviate some design debt across a number of screens.
OEMs will get the message, too. Skins like One UI, HyperOS, and Nothing OS will remain points of difference, but Expressive’s core wins—strong user appetite for its fundamentals such as being able to resize your Quick Settings tiles, punch up the contrast, and make icons sharper—may push manufacturers to follow these patterns rather than negate them.
The takeaway from the Android 16 Expressive survey
That’s because, as positive a response as Android 16’s Expressive redesign has received—with nearly two-thirds of all surveyed users loving it and fewer than one in ten disliking it, according to data Raqib collected for my Stratum Omen article—this stands out as a rare design win. It turns up the volume on personality while improving ease of use and ergonomics, and the few pain points (density preferences, app lag) can be solved. The message to Google, developers, and OEMs is clear: keep the customization, keep it clear, and keep shipping cohesive Material 3 experiences.
