Before the Android 12 developer’s first preview arrived last week, a leak suggested that the next version could feature a significant redesign with colors based on the active wallpaper. And while the initial version of Android 12 doesn’t look much different from its predecessor, there are some hidden changes under the surface, like a redesigned lock screen and notification shade, as well as baby blue-dipped UI elements – initial evidence advanced theme options. Thanks to some research done by the ROM developer @ kdrag0n on Twitter, it looks like the leak is correct.
kdrag0n was able to activate and reverse engineer some hidden properties of the system to activate the wallpaper-based theme, nicknamed “Monet” (probably in honor of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet). The developer shared some variations that pull different colors from wallpapers, showing that both the notifications, the background tone, and quick setting blocks respond dynamically to wallpapers (compare QS blocks in the images above and below). The color of the wallpaper is also reflected in the system settings, where a lighter shade of color makes up the background.
Some variations.
The theme is much more subtle on the lock screen, as notification backgrounds being dipped in a light color based on wallpaper are the only telltale sign. But by pulling down the notification tab, you’ll immediately notice the opaque wallpaper-based background.
Above: Hidden theme activated on the lock screen. Below: Current standard Android 12 experience.
The developer talked to XDA and explained how they were able to activate the unfinished wallpaper theme behavior: “I enabled the feature after setting a system property. However, it had no effect because DP1 does not contain any color palettes from the system. works by applying RRO overlays dynamically based on the similarity of colors, so I reverse-engineered SystemUI to find out how the overlays should be created Monet started working as soon as the color palettes were installed. “Kdrag0n also added on twitter who are confident that Google is working to bring more rounded corners to notifications, as seen in the models that leaked below.
The design model of Android 12 that was leaked before the developer’s first preview.
Although Google hasn’t yet implemented functional color palettes, this is as close as it gets to pre-Android 12 models. With these theme options already implemented, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a whole new look as soon as the beta is released on end of this year.
For more information on the launch of Android 12, check out our announcement post detailing what’s new here. If you want to install the developer preview on your own device, find out how in our Android 12 download guide.
