Good news comes from the hand of Jeff Verkoeyen, responsible for design of Google applications for iOS. The designer has confirmed via Twitter that said applications adopt UIKit, the native kit of the system to create the user interfaces**.
From brand experience to platform experience
So far the Google applications for iOS (Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Photos …) used the Material Design guides, seeking to standardize the user experience with Android applications. It makes sense: this way, Google services would be used in the same way on all platforms.
However, this has also been generating complaints from users over time since using Google applications on an iPhone is like suddenly going to be using the interface of an Android. The experience does not fit with the rest of iOS applications that respect Apple’s design guidelines, creating inconsistencies.
So Verkoeyen has appreciated the improvements that Apple has added to UIKit starting with iOS 14, and will prioritize looking for the native experience higher quality on iOS above showing the “Google experience”. That will translate into a design more in line with iOS itself and improved performance.
The change is taking place right now, and Google has already started hiring professionals to carry it out. We should start to notice the changes over the next year, allowing a few months of margin to pass. Changing the interface of an application is no joke that can be done in a few weeks.