The Material library has been updated to match the latest Material Design spec. Changes include new components, new component themes, and updated component visuals. As of this release, `ThemeData.useMaterial3` is set `true` by default.
- Who is affected
- Applications and packages relying on the previous behaviour or signature. Code that uses ThemeData.useMaterial3, ThemeData.colorScheme, ThemeData.textTheme and related APIs.
- Practical impact
- Behaviour or API differences that can break builds or change runtime behaviour.
- What action should I take?
- Follow the official migration guide below, update affected call sites, run `dart fix --apply` where a fix is available, then run your tests.
Official migration guide (excerpt, © The Flutter Authors, CC BY 3.0)
Prior to the 3.16 release, the changes were "opt-in"
using the useMaterial3 theme property on ThemeData.
As of this release, useMaterial3 is true by default.
You can still opt out of the Material 3 version of the Material library by
specifying useMaterial3: false in your MaterialApp theme.
will eventually be deprecated and removed.
but needed a whole new implementation.
For this reason, your UI might look a little strange when
you see it running with Material 3.
To fix this, manually migrate to the new widgets, such as NavigationBar.
For more details, check out the [Material 3 umbrella issue][] on GitHub.
AI_PROVIDER (for example to openai-compatible with a local Ollama or LM Studio endpoint) to enable grounded explanations. Everything else on this page works without an AI provider.Listed in the official breaking-changes index (docs.flutter.dev/release/breaking-changes).
An official announcement or migration guide documents an intended behaviour or API change. A verified source change (git diff) shows code changed but does not by itself prove a public API is breaking. AI interpretations are labelled and never used to classify a change.
- Official migration guide
- Material 3 umbrella issue
- Add support for M3 motion
- Change the default for ThemeData.useMaterial3 to true
- Updated ThemeData.useMaterial3 API doc, default is true
- Source commit
- b3045439b7c0
- Source last updated
- Oct 21, 2026
- Last synchronized
- Oct 21, 2026
- Publication status
- published
Publication history
- Oct 21, 2026, 8:31 PM: new → published (ingestion) — Backed by an official breaking-change/migration guide.
AI_PROVIDER (for example to openai-compatible with a local Ollama or LM Studio endpoint) to enable grounded explanations. Everything else on this page works without an AI provider.