Google Drive redesigns file upload, video player on Android

Abner Li | Jun 20 2025 - 1:37 pm PT

Google Drive has rolled out a pair of redesigns to the Android app that modernizes the file upload experience and video player.

On Android (and iOS), the Google Drive app now offers “more fine grained controls and proactive status updates” when uploading files. After selecting what you want to upload, an “initial upload screen” will let you rename the file, change the account if you’re signed in to multiple, and folder location.

Afterwards, you get a bottom sheet/progress indicator docked above the bottom bar, which pushes up the FABs (floating action buttons), that “tells you how many items are uploading and how long it will take.” This is in addition to the usual system notification.

Tapping the up chevron takes you to the Uploads page, which is also available in the navigation drawer. It shows you “all pending or recently completed uploads.”

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Google Drive for Android also now has the “smoother, more modern video player” that was first introduced on the web last year. There are large Material 3 buttons for play/pause and rewind/skip, as well as the timeline scrubber at the bottom. Above that you get controls for captions, playback speed (0.2-2x), loop, and going fullscreen.

These updates are “available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.”