Material You theming to become mandatory for Android 12 smartphones
That goes for phones that come with Google services, though, of course, so it does not necessarily apply to Huawei devices, for example. This information has been provided by a “trusted source”, says Android Police. Material You theming is an integral part of Android 12 on Google Pixel smartphones. Google is obviously looking to add more functionality to it, and push it forward down the line. This change was not expected, though. The source says that starting on March 14, Google will require that any new Android 12-based software builds submitted for Google Mobile Services (GMS) approval “implement a dynamic theming engine that meets certain requirements”. To be more specific, Google’s theming engine will need to be able to access a single source color in order to generate five tonal palettes that can adapt on the fly. Out of those five, we’re looking at three accent palettes, and two neutral ones. So, the same five used in Material You theming on Pixel phones.
Google seems to be doing this for consistency sake, and to help out developers
Google seems to be doing this for consistency’s sake. It will make a job easier for developers, as they’ll be able to adapt their apps more easily for dynamic theming. It will also push dynamic theming forward. That being said, you’ll notice that I mentioned ‘Google’s engine’ earlier in the article. I was referring to the ‘Monet’ engine that powers Material You’s look. That engine is still exclusive to Pixel phones. Having said that, with Android 12L, Monet will come to the AOSP, and become available to everyone. Developers will be able to create their own dynamic theming engines into which they’ll be able to implement Google Monet.
