Amazon for Android introduces a pill-shaped search bar
Summary
- Amazon’s Android app saw a significant design change, featuring a teal background and a simpler search bar layout last year.
- The new design we spotted this weekend tests a colorless header with a pill-shaped search box and without Amazon branding.
- The design rolled out to some of our devices, and was later rolled back on at least one, suggesting it might be a test. However, we hope to soon see the new release widely.
Amazon might be one of the biggest or most popular e-commerce platforms around, but its Android app is rather basic, and doesn’t see much change. Sometimes the brand changes the header banner colors in the app for the festive season, like green for Christmas, but we haven’t seen a change from the deep blue header with its rectangular search field and yellow button. However, Amazon changed its appearance this past weekend, and we believe this look is here to stay.
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Amazon’s Android app changed noticeably in 2024 when the dark blue header design was replaced by a simpler search bar with integrated buttons against a teal blue background. The old design is still accessible when you open the website using a browser app on mobile, featuring a hamburger menu button on the left with Amazon branding, while the right hand has options to access your cart and user account. There’s only one button in the search bar.
The more prevalent design in the mobile app that features the teal background does away with the hamburger menu, cart button, and search button altogether, since they are in the app’s bottom bar now. The search bar, however, integrates voice search and Amazon Lens, the company’s Google Lens replica. Occasionally, the header would don a green color for festive seasons.
Latest design finally brings modernization
Limited release could be a test too
Left to Right: Amazon Web UI; The current Android app UI; The latest design change
The latest design that has just started rolling out features a pill-shaped search field with the same button layout. The placeholder text in the field has changed from “Search Amazon” to “Search or ask a question” and the box has a very light gray color too.
Besides that, you will also notice the latest header design is completely colorless and devoid of Amazon branding. Visually, the design seems to take up less vertical space on your screen as well, creating more room for promotional banners and Amazon’s recommendations.
I have seen this design roll out on the Amazon app for Android in India, across multiple devices. However, users in the US are still seeing the teal-color header, and one of my devices also reverted to this look on Monday. Meanwhile, the company’s website still uses the blue and yellow theme. This leaves the UI design in three different states across geographies and platforms. I hope for consolidation sometime soon, given that the new appearance is much cleaner and modern.
However, this could have been a wider test rollout since the app has reverted to the teal design on at least one of my devices. So, there’s no telling if and when Amazon plans to modernize the interface, but efforts and tests are certainly underway, and we just need to wait for the server-side switch.
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