Source: Google
Material You was a big deal when it first launched with Android 12, bringing new animations and the ability to create a whole theme around a user’s wallpaper, even skinning compatible app icons in the same colors. While exciting, the Material You color schemes all looked very similar, creating themes based on three accent colors paired with a couple neutral base colors. Now it looks like things could be changing, and Google could introduce bolder colors with the release of Android 14.
The news comes from 9to5Google, stating that the team at Google is working on a new theme style that will introduce bolder color options. As of now, this is being called ‘Fidelity’ and the major difference is that it will allow users to really utilize a base color from their selected wallpaper and use it for a theme. The news outlet also believes that a sample of this was shown off recently by the Google Design team through a tweet, giving us a look at bolder colors that aren’t currently available on Android 13, which you can see in the video above.
Source: 9to5Google
Although Android 14 is now available in beta, the new Material You color theme is not. But the source was able to dig through some of the code and create an emulation of the feature, giving the world and early look of what might come. While nothing too exciting here, the main takeaway is that the base color taken from the wallpaper can directly transfer to the theme. In the image above we can see that the colors like fuchsia, lime green, and black are all used for the theme. Even when switching to dark mode, like in the image below, the base colors taken from the wallpaper will continue to be applied. The source does state that in dark mode, things do get a bit trickier when a dark-colored wallpaper is selected, but these are things that the Google team will most likely iron out before its release.
Source: 9to5Google
Android 14 is now currently available in beta, and while it’s not perfect, it’s still in relatively good shape for daily use, especially with the latest update. If interested, you can always enroll in the Android Beta Program to update to Android 14. The Android Beta Program will also allow users to enter the Android 13 beta. The choice is really yours at this point. Of course, if you aren’t into enrolling and updating over-the-air, you can always download Android 14 and install it manually too.