Microsoft’s Office apps for iOS are being updated with a new UI, which has been “designed from scratch”, providing users with a “simpler, faster, and more beautiful” user experience than their previous design (via Windows Central). The update seems to be rolling out gradually now, but all three apps include the new designs in their changelog listings on their App Store pages.
In December, Microsoft announced that it was providing refreshes to its Office mobile apps to be more on par with its fluent design efforts. Outlook mobile was among the first apps to be polished with new icons to give it a cleaner look.
However, Microsoft’s Office apps—Word, Excel, and PowerPoint—have received a much fuller design overhaul, which also includes the new simpler icons to increase their usability. Although the company doesn’t mention everything that has been redesigned, at first glance it’s easy to note the simpler bottom navigation and new icons.
The bottom navigation provides only three icons instead of five, with the Recent and Shared documents being merged into one screen which can be accessed from the home icon on the left, the new document button has been moved to the center, opening documents remains accessible from the right, and app settings can be now accessed from the new side menu as opposed to the bottom. The new design also swaps the app colors while outside of document editing to the top of the app instead of at the bottom navigation as seen in the previous design.
The new polished UI is sure to please many users, especially those that are new, as it makes the app look simpler without removing any of the vast functionality that Office apps are known for. What do you think of the new UI?
