Android 12’s Wallpaper-Based Color Theme is Working!
  • Posted byby Kellen

Android 12’s Wallpaper-Based Color Theme is Working!

One of the most anticipated changes to Android 12 that we’ve been hoping would arrive with each developer preview and now beta, has been the wallpaper-based theme engine. It’s been on our wishlist from the moment it leaked because it could really change the way we set out to customize our Android phones like never before. In Android 12 Beta 2, it’s working!

The idea here is that when you set a wallpaper, the system pulls colors from that wallpaper to theme items, like the background of settings or Quick Settings tiles, etc. The color hints that Android 12 is using here are pretty subtle, but we’re hoping there will be more controls over this stuff at some point.

To show it in action, I grabbed a Mandalorian wallpaper that is heavy in oranges and yellows. I took several screenshots before switching over to a straight-blue wallpaper. This is how Android 12 is changing things based on those two color profiles:

Android 12 Wallpaper Theme

Android 12 Wallpaper Theme

Subtle, right? When you first change the wallpaper, your eyes take a minute to realize what the system tweaked, but when you lay it out here, you can really see the difference. Pretty cool!

At the moment, we aren’t finding settings for this stuff and it appears to just be on by default. I’d imagine the Styles & Wallpapers area needs some sort of update to give us additional ways to tweak this, possibly with a color picker that choose from the wallpaper? I don’t know, but something is missing.

Written by

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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12 Comments

  • I hope they add a way to turn this off, or change it in some way, I’m out. I want to pick my button color, not my wallpaper.

  • Anyway for you to tell us where you got the red sky/mountain wallpaper in the image above?

  • While I think this is dope in concept, I’m not a huge fan of the palettes they’re using. I know it’s partially for reasons of contrast and usability and what not, but they didn’t have to stick to these pastels exclusively. I just don’t find them very attractive.

  • I don’t like it at all. Pictures of my kids with their red school shirts on makes my background colors pink.

  • When I change wallpapers mine isn’t changing until I change the style. And then it doesn’t seem to follow the style I chose colors at all and is doing the color match thing which is fine but not sure that’s intended lol

  • Also, there is the option for when you hold the power button it will trigger the assistant.

  • “we aren’t finding settings for this stuff and it appears to just be on by default”

    thanks for saving us from going on a settings hunt!

  • “we aren’t finding settings for this stuff and it appears to just be on by default”

    thanks for saving us from going on a settings hunt!

    • UGH! I want it off! I want my buttons blue, not pink because of my wallpaper.

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