Tech · NEWS EXPLAINER
Google Photos 7.94 Brings Liquid Glass Navigation to iPhone
Version 7.94 is live in Apple’s App Store, while current reporting shows Google Photos replacing its solid iPhone navigation surfaces with Apple’s translucent Liquid Glass treatment.
Google Photos version 7.94 is now listed in Apple’s U.S. App Store, and a current hands-on report shows a visible change to the iPhone app: the floating bottom navigation that previously used a solid background now uses Apple’s translucent Liquid Glass treatment. Buttons in the top bar have picked up the same glass-like styling.
The update does not mean Google has replaced its own design language with Apple’s. On iPhone, Google is combining Material 3 Expressive with iOS-native Liquid Glass surfaces. Google’s release notes in Apple’s App Store remain generic, so the specific visual change is documented by 9to5Google’s app observation rather than an official changelog that names Liquid Glass.
What changed in Google Photos 7.94
The most obvious difference is the floating bottom bar. In the previous iPhone design it sat on a solid surface, similar to the Android version. In 7.94, the bar becomes translucent and lets more of the photo grid remain visually present underneath it.
The current screenshots also show Liquid Glass on top-bar controls. The effect responds to Apple’s system translucency choices: the default setting keeps more tint, while a clearer setting reveals more of the content behind the controls.
Google is mixing Material 3 with an iOS-native material
Google has been moving its iOS apps toward Material 3 Expressive, but iPhone apps still live inside Apple’s interface conventions. Google Photos now illustrates that overlap: the layout and component language remain recognizably Google, while navigation surfaces use Apple’s glass effect.
That makes the change different from simply copying the Android build. 9to5Google notes that several Google apps on iOS are still at different stages of the Material 3 transition, so the company is not applying one identical visual recipe everywhere at once.
What iPhone users can actually verify
The first concrete check is the app version. Apple’s U.S. App Store lists 7.94.0 as the current Google Photos release and describes the update broadly as bug fixes, performance improvements and new features, without naming Liquid Glass.
The second check is visual rather than a new workflow: look at the bottom navigation and top controls after updating. The reporting does not describe a new photo-editing tool or storage feature tied to this change, so users should treat it as an interface redesign rather than a new Photos capability.