Google Discover’s latest change sits on the thin line between a bug and a feature

Many Android flagships have a minus-one screen (the pane on the left of your home screen) that houses Google Discover, a personalized content feed from Google that displays articles, videos, and other personalized content. It’s fair to presume that many people are accustomed to Discover’s look and feel, and any small change will be noticeable to both users and content publishers. Google is now testing a full-width layout for Google Discover, and it frankly spoils the aesthetic of the minus-one screen.

Previously, articles displayed on Google Discover would appear as cards with a featured image and a border. There would be plenty of margins on the left and right of the image, giving it a clean look thanks to the fairly used whitespace. However, as spotted by 9to5Google, Google is rolling out a zero-margin layout where the image spans the entire width of your display. Allegedly, in doing so, this layout also cuts off some portions of the image, compromising the context.

The report says that this redesigned Discover layout is rolling out widely, even though it can easily be mistaken for a bug. I couldn’t spot it on any of my devices yet, including a Pixel 9 Pro XL running Android 16 beta with the latest Google app in the stable branch. The new layout is also visible on the Google app where Discover also resides.

The new layout does appear out of place, but this could be a case of getting accustomed to a change. The report mentions that the layout could be temporary since it does not align with the other Material 3 design changes added over the past few months to Discover.

Have you received the new layout for Google Discover? Let us know in the comments below!