Android fans will have noticed that Google seems rather fond of wavy progress bars these days. They’re part of the company’s broader Material 3 Expressive design, and you can find them across Google’s apps and interfaces — including Android Auto. But as we’ve seen the squiggly design make its way to more places, we’ve had less of an idea of what users actually think of it. Until now, that is.
Last month, the Android Auto wavy progress bar mysteriously reverted to a straight line for some users, at least when playing music through Spotify in full-screen mode. It wasn’t the first time the feature had disappeared, but it gave us a good excuse to ask readers whether they actually liked the wavy design or preferred the classic straight line. Apparently, a little squiggle can inspire quite a bit of interest, with more than 1,300 readers voting and some surprisingly strong opinions in the comments.