Google Phone might ring in Android 16 with a settings menu makeover

Summary

The Google Phone app is expected to receive a revamped settings menu in Android 16, featuring a categorized layout for easier navigation. This new layout is reportedly name ‘aurora preference.’
The Phone app’s settings panel will likely support Material You theming, meaning its appearance will dynamically adapt to the user’s wallpaper.
The redesign mimics the recently-redesigned ‘Google Services’ menu.

Google’s expedited timeline for future major releases has pushed quite a few features originally intended for Android 15‘s release cycle over to Android 16.

For reference, the previously leaked ‘make all apps dark’ feature, which as its name suggests, intelligently converts light theme apps to dark theme, was first in development for Android 15. The feature is now expected to make its way to the masses with Android 16.

In a similar vein, Android 15 Beta 3 included a UI refresh for the Settings screen that was later pulled, and it, too, could arrive alongside Google’s next major OS update.

Android 15’s Settings menu could get a much-needed visual overhaul

Top-level items in Settings will be split into multiple categories

For those unaware, the Settings revamp groups similar settings within their own personalized sections, instead of displaying them in a long list — essentially making it easier for users to identify and navigate to the exact setting they’re looking for. This also mirrors the recent Google Services’ Settings panel revamp, which categorizes settings into 10 different sections, each with its own dedicated title, and a contrasting background for the category and the overall panel.

The latter could soon be expanded to more Google apps, with the Phone app likely the first in line for the revamp, as highlighted by folks over at Android Authority.

The redesigned setting layout, which is reportedly called ‘aurora preference,’ will use background shading to distinguish setting categories from the panel’s background, both in light and dark theme modes. For the latter, the screen will highlight a dark gray background for the page and a darker black background for the menu items. Similarly, light theme users will see a light gray background for the page, with white backgrounds for menu items.

The panel will likely support Material You theming, which means it’ll likely be dynamic and change according to the user’s wallpaper.

For what it’s worth, the design is currently hidden, and downloading the latest Google Phone beta won’t unlock it for you. However, the screenshots highlight a refined design, suggesting a release in the near future, likely alongside the broader Settings panel revamp for Android 16.

This comes soon after Google began rolling filter chips like All, Missed, Contacts, Non-Spam, and Spam to beta users.