SAN FRANCISCO, January 27, 2026, 00:50 (PST)
- Leaked Android 17 screenshots point to a wider blur effect across core menus such as volume controls and the power menu.
- The same internal build shows a redesigned screen recorder and a new “Lock app” shortcut on long-press.
- The move echoes Apple’s recent push toward translucent interface layers, raising fresh questions about readability.
Leaked screenshots of an internal Android 17 build show Google testing a broader blur effect across key system controls, alongside a redesigned screen recording tool, 9to5Google reported. The images show the volume slider and power menu switching from solid light or dark panels to translucent ones that let wallpaper colors show through. The build also includes a “Lock app” option and hints that Android’s “Bubbles” feature — floating chat-head style shortcuts — could expand beyond conversation apps. (9to5Google)
The leak matters because it points to where Google is taking Android’s look after its recent Material 3 Expressive overhaul, a design system that has leaned on motion, layering and personalization. Even small shifts to the system interface — the built-in menus you hit dozens of times a day — can ripple into how phone makers skin Android and how developers tune app visuals.
It also lands as Apple’s translucent “Liquid Glass” look spreads across its software. If Google pushes Android further into blur-heavy panels, it risks turning a design trend into a practical trade-off users will notice fast: legibility versus style.
A separate 9to5Google report on Sunday said Google is building the effect deeper into Android 17 on Pixel, with system “flags” in internal builds explicitly labeling the look “blur.” The publication said blurred panels are tinted by Android’s Dynamic Color theme — the feature that pulls shades from a user’s wallpaper — and framed the change as a smaller visual step than last year’s overhaul, with open questions about whether third-party apps will be pushed toward the same translucency. (9to5Google)
Google has pitched blur as a way to add depth without losing context. “We even subtly blur the shade background to provide a sense of depth, so the motion feels lightweight,” Mindy Brooks, a Google vice president for Android user experiences, wrote in a company blog post describing Material 3 Expressive. (Blog)
In practice, blur can make menus feel less like hard overlays and more like layers sitting on top of what you were doing. It is also a place where mistakes show up fast: text and icons have to stay readable over whatever sits behind them.
Apple has leaned into that same idea — and marketed it aggressively. “This is our broadest software design update ever,” Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of Human Interface Design, said when Apple introduced Liquid Glass as a new “material” built around translucency and visual effects. (Apple)
Some early reaction around Android 17’s blur push has focused less on aesthetics and more on clarity. Gizmodo compared the leaked Android 17 look to Apple’s Liquid Glass and said heavier translucency can make interfaces harder to read when controls sit over busy backgrounds. (Gizmodo)
PhoneArena noted that blur is already present in parts of Android’s interface after the Material 3 Expressive rollout, including areas like Quick Settings and the notification shade, and said Android includes an accessibility option to disable background blur for users who find it distracting. (PhoneArena)
But features shown in internal builds often change before release, and Google has not publicly announced Android 17 or confirmed the elements seen in the screenshots. Usability researchers have also warned that transparency can backfire; “The result is light, airy — and often invisible,” Nielsen Norman Group’s Raluca Budiu wrote about Liquid Glass, a critique that could land on any blur-heavy interface if contrast slips. (Nngroup)
