Android Q Beta 4: Dark Theme tweaks in Pixel Launcher, notifications, more

Google officially unveiled the Android Q Dark Theme at I/O 2019 last month. With Beta 4 today, Google is making several tweaks to the system and Pixel Launcher’s implementation that helps with legibility.

On the Pixel Launcher, the app actions panel accessed by long pressing on an icon reveals two lighter shades of gray. Google also opted to use the same color for the power menu background that pops up when holding the physical lock button. In Beta 3, this system UI was completely black like quick settings or notifications

Elsewhere on the launcher, the device search bar at the bottom of the screen is now gray when the dark theme is enabled. This results in a more consistent appearance when users enter device search.

Google is helping making the notification shade more legible and less monochromatic by theming the tiny app icons in the top-left corner of every alert. This helps separate notifications, with all apps — including alerts from the system — sporting a colorful variant. While a small change, it greatly helps with visually separating the stream of alerts after swiping down when using the dark theme in Android Q.

Another minor change is in Display settings where the Dark Theme preference is now a toggle instead of the full menu that only had two options in Beta 3.

As the beta progress ahead of a public launch in Q3, Google will continue to make tweaks that help improve the Android Q dark theme.

More in Android Q Beta 4:

• ‘Face authentication’ appears in settings, reveals some features
• Pixel devices get a tweaked lock screen w/ relocated lock icon
• New accent colors arrive w/ ‘Space,’ ‘Cinnamon,’ more