What you need to know
- A test through Chrome Canary shows Google is interested in adding a Material You function featured on Android.
- Web users of Chrome could see a dynamic color function that allows the browser to take the main color of its background as its own theme.
- Dynamic colors on Android phones completely alter the color of many UI elements and Google-developed apps.
Google appears to be testing a new feature through Chrome Canary that echoes Material You on Android.
The test was spotted by a Reddit user who posted a few short videos about the test in action. Through the provided videos, we’re able to see how Google Chrome will soon try and complement its tab color to whatever background users choose to display as their browser’s background, very similar to dynamic colors through Material You.
Currently, Chrome web users can choose what background they’d like to see when opening a new tab or window. They can also decide on the color of their browser’s top bar.
Fortunately, through the gifs, it looks like users may still have the option of choosing their own browser color if the one provided isn’t up to their liking.
Also, a noticeable difference in this test when compared to dynamic colors on Android is how much richer and bold the colors in this test appear. Dynamic colors for phones are much lighter, almost like pastel colors. Google opting to test this feature with richer colors is certainly different but keeps it in line with how the colors appear currently on its live build.
Dynamic colors made its debut alongside Material You when Android 12 launched and has continued to improve itself through its most recent iteration provided by Android 13. Those with Material You on Android will know that this design software goes much deeper than just the browser.
This new color palette system was brought in to help users craft a phone UI that was unique to them and felt comfortable. On many phones like the Pixel 7 Pro, Material You’s dynamic colors completely alter a phone’s design elements to complement your chosen wallpaper while also giving you the option of picking your own theme.
Certain Google-provided apps will also have their icons morphed as well to fit in with whatever Material You has to offer.
It may be some time before this feature arrives on stable Chrome versions. However, if you want to try out Chrome’s new Material You dynamic color themes, you’ll need Chrome Canary version 110. You’ll also have to enable a Chrome flag to get the feature working: chrome://flags/#customize-chrome-color-extraction.
