Android 12 Beta 3: ‘Material You’ color options, themed icons arrive on Pixel Launcher

Ben Schoon | Jul 14 2021 - 10:22 am PT

The third beta for Android 12 has just arrived and, with it, a brand new wallpaper picker that has better support for the new Material You theming language, including color options and also themed icons.

Available in this latest beta release, Pixel owners will see the wallpaper picker completely redesigned from previous launches. This time around, the UI is more rounded and better fits with the aesthetic Google has established in other parts of the UI.

What’s most notable here, though, is that “Material You” is closer to completion in this release of Android 12 with support for choosing the palette of colors the OS picks from and support for automatically themed icons.

Starting with color options, this allows users to have just a bit more say into what colors the OS will use throughout the clock, widgets, quick settings, and other UI elements. Users can also override the wallpaper-based option entirely and pick from a collection of presets. As our Kyle Bradshaw also quickly spotted, the options grow depending on how many colors are in your wallpaper.

Further, a new “Themed Icons” option will switch out the icon of supported applications automatically with a line-based icon and background to match the wallpaper or chosen accent color. Third-party apps don’t seem to be supported at this time, but most of Google’s popular apps are.

Notably, with these changes, Google has also hidden the font changer. Presumably this will be added back before the final release.

We’re still digging into Android 12 Beta 3. Drop a comment below or reach out to me on Twitter if you spot something we haven’t!