Android’s beautiful new dynamic theming is the very epitome of chic design. But “monet,” as the feature was called in development, could get an even more carefully crafted upgrade with Android 13. Google is developing four new color combinations for that dynamic theming, covering a range from exaggerated vibrance to muted desaturation.
If you aren’t familiar, Google’s new dynamic theme system is a feature that first started to appear in Android 12 Betas. It changes everything from system colors to icon themes to match your background in a simple, elegant, and beautiful way. Sadly, the feature is a Pixel-exclusive for now, though other manufacturers have been working on their own versions of it (like Samsung and OPPO), and it could expand more widely in the future.
According to a trusted source, Google has four new color combinations planned for its dynamic theming system, currently under active development. In the code, the four names are currently called:
- TONAL_SPOT: The current default colors Monet chooses.
- VIBRANT: A palette similar to TONAL_SPOT, but with slight differences in supplementary accents.
- EXPRESSIVE: A wider range of colors, seemingly including some not actually in the background, but which complement it well.
- SPRITZ: a muted, desaturated, nearly monochromatic theme.
All four styles still draw on your current background for chromatic inspiration, but each does things a little differently. We should point out that Pixels with Android 12’s dynamic theming had four styles for dynamic theming available to them as well, but this would be different. Prior options didn’t cover this kind of range in intent. Previously, the four colors changed the “seed” color that the dynamic theming system generated its colors from. The new styles are even more dynamically playful, riffing on the colors detected in more charming and consistent ways.
Without further ado, a set of galleries for what each theme looks like with an example wallpaper:
TONAL_SPOT
VIBRANT
EXPRESSIVE
SPRITZ
Our source did not share a screenshot of the settings page where you’ll be able to pick these styles. Seemingly under active development, these new styles could yet change before we see them debut in a public release.
We’re still likely a month or more out from the first Android 13 developer builds — and that’s assuming Android 12L doesn’t change the usual schedule. Still, we know quite a lot about Android 13 already between early leaks and code commits. Other recently spotted changes include streamlining the QR code-scanning process, a tap-to-transfer feature for moving media playback between devices, a new “Panlingual” feature for per-app language settings, and some UI tweaks. As we tick closer to a preview release, expect the tempo of newly spotted features to kick up.
Read Next
About The Author
