With Android 12, Google introduced the Material You design, which is intended to harmonize the entire surface of the operating system and coordinate the colors. However, this does not end with the UI colors but extends to the individual app icons. While this was only implemented for a few Google apps with Android 12, Android 13 should be the next big step.
We are currently in a kind of Android vacuum in which some further developments are difficult to classify: Android 12 is still quite new and will be further improved by updates, Android 12L is just around the corner and the first Android 13 preview is not likely either be farther away. For this reason, it is not easy to assign the current developments to a specific version.
With Android 12, in the course of Material You, the customization of app icons was added, which should also be based on the dominant color of the rest of the interface. However, this only works for Google apps – not even for all – which is simply because it is firmly anchored in the operating system and is not yet offered adaptively. Recently it was assumed that this would change with Android 12L, but according to Mishaal Rahman, this has now turned out to be a mistake.
I highly doubt Google will leave Themed Icons as is. They probably plan to add an API in Android 13 that will support any icon using the adaptive icon spec: https://t.co/jGKpl0QWYU
A few APIs need to be updated in the framework and Launcher3 side, but not much needs to change.
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) January 18, 2022
Google introduced Themed Icons in Android 12 for Pixel, a feature that applies Material You dynamic theming to the app icons on your home screen. How does this feature work? pic.twitter.com/Pb6iVWbSil
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) January 18, 2022
The former XDA author and Android expert assume that the whole thing will only find its way into the operating system with Android 13. Google simply seems to have run out of time to introduce a corresponding API and has therefore opted for the hard code variant. However, Rahman also assumes that there will be no separate API for this, but that the range of functions of the existing Adaptive Icons, with which the shape can be defined, will be expanded.
Check out the entire Twitter thread for more fun facts about these icons. It is also questionable how many developers are interested in this feature at all. After all, the logo is an important identification feature and is lost in the (from my very personal point of view) unnecessary color adjustment compared to all other apps. With companies, it is completely different due to corporate guidelines. Who would want to do without their colors and colored areas?