Google Extends Material You Dynamic App Icon Themes To More Of Its Apps In Android 12 Beta 3



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Android 12 Beta 2 first introduced monochrome icons for Google apps based on your wallpaper colors, just like other UI elements as part of Material You or Monet. Beta 3 expands these capabilities. It is the first version of Android 12 which introduces a toggle in front of the user to activate or deactivate these thematic icons in the Wallpaper and style app, and while it’s there, it adds a ton of other Google apps to the list of supported icons.

As reported by app developers kdrag0n and Kieron quinnThere was a hidden flag in Beta 2 that allowed you to theme a few app icons on Android 12 Beta 2, matching the colors pulled from your wallpaper. The list was (and still is) exclusive to Google apps, safe for a few like messages, phone, and photos, though these also became themed in Beta 3.

Credits: Kieron quinn (left), kdrag0n (middle and right).

In the examples above, you can see that the apps have accented color backgrounds and black iconography in light mode while they are inverted in dark mode. This monochrome look is a calm, beautiful, and understated design that’s almost the complete opposite of Google’s recent push for candy-colored app icons.

Based on the evidence Quinn gathered, it appears that the list of compatible apps is currently hard-coded in Pixel Launcher. While support may initially be limited to Google apps only, it looks like the company is doing everything it can to extend support to third-party apps. Developer Dylan Roussel has already implemented theme support for a preview of its Inware device information app.

Left: Almost all applications are supported. Middle: No theme in the app drawer. Right: Switch to the wallpaper app.

As covered by XDA’s Mishaal Rahman, Pixel Launcher expands the list of supported app icons in beta 3, and it is finally possible to enable or disable thematic icons via a toggle in the wallpaper app. Only a few Google apps aren’t supported, like Stadia and the older Google Pay app (which is still the only version available in many parts of the world). For some reason, the thematic icons do not transfer to the app launcher, where you will find the usual app icons instead. It is not known if this is intentional or a bug.

We initially assumed that the company might want to use these themed icons in places other than the launcher, such as in the notification shadows or the Recents screen, but given that the wallpaper-based icons are now oriented. towards the user and active in the launcher, it’s almost safe to assume that’s where Google intends to use them. Hopefully the third-party icons follow sooner rather than later – I love the new icons, but already don’t like the inconsistent look they give to my home screen right now.

Love the icons, but dislike the inconsistent look.

For more on Android 12, check out our ongoing series coverage here, or mark our regularly updated changelog and come back later. If you want to install Developer Preview on your own device, find out how in our Android 12 download guide.

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