Leaked icons could be our first look at the upcoming Android Moonshine redesign

Google is apparently planning to redesign its Android mobile operating systems with a new, flatter look, possibly using the project name Moonshine, in what could be the biggest visual change to Android since the 4.2 Jelly Bean update.

According to leaked design documents shared with Android Police, the Moonshine redesign would see familiar apps including Chrome, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Hangouts, Google+, Calendar, People, Camera, Play Store, Play Music, Books, Movies, and Games all receive new flat icons, which almost have more in common with Apple’s iOS than the current crop of Android icons.

Confusingly, Google uses different icons for its web apps, and the proposed new images are different again; in the below image, the web app icon is on the left, current Android icon in the middle and proposed Moonshine update icon on the right. The Play Store icon in particular appears to have a new colour scheme, while Google_ has a circular design to indicate its Circles functionality.

Although initially sceptical, Android Police has since uncovered a screenshot of a Google Partners page which shows the same Calendar, Maps and YouTube icons as the ones seen in the leaked images. That doesn’t mean they are actually coming to Android, but indicates they are indeed real and Google is planning on using them.

Whether Google will roll out the new icons as part of a smaller Android 4.4 KitKat update, as Android 4.5 or Android 5 isn’t clear, but with the Google I/O developer conference now less than two months away, we won’t have long to see whether the leak is indeed accurate.