Google Drive is finally making scanning documents with your phone much less of an awful experience

News
By published

Google Drive gets a design update

Google Drive
Image credit: Shutterstock (Image credit: Shutterstock)
  • Google is tweaking the UI for document scanning, but only for Android users
  • New tools like cropping and rotating have been added to the mobile app
  • Android users get a Material 3 design update – iOS users get nothing

Google is making some changes to how you scan documents from your phone, but it’ll only be available for Android users (who, according to Statcounter, account for three times as many people as iOS users).

The company is now adding crop and rotate functions to its document scanning tool, as well as color adjustment via filters, shadow erasing and more.

The Android experience, through the Google Drive app, is also coming with a few changes to the user interface for a cleaner look.

Scanning documents via Google Drive gets better – for some

Key to the UI changes are the larger page previews, which make it easier to check the scan for imperfections before saving it.

Google has also added page deletion and retake buttons onto the screen for quicker adjustments, as well as a new thumbnail carousel per the company’s Material 3 design principles, which dictate how many Google experiences (including the Android OS as a whole) look.

With the visual enhancements aligning with the broader Google ecosystem redesign, the whole experience will become more consistent. While the Material 3 updates don’t matter too much to iPhone users, the editing tools would be a welcome addition.

On the theme of consistency, the cloud storage platform also got a UI update to give videos saved on Google Drive thumbnails more akin to those found on YouTube, while Gemini continues to be integrated into different areas of the entire platform on an almost weekly basis.

Already in rollout, the new design and features should have arrived for all Google Workspace customers (including business and personal accounts) by mid-September 2025, but Google failed to mention whether the new tools would also be coming to iOS users.

TechRadar Pro asked Google whether iOS users can expect a similar update in due course.

You might also like

TOPICS
Craig Hale
Craig Hale

With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.