Google dropped the second developer preview of Android 13 last week. The final preview release brings some notable features and changes, including notification permission requests, the ability to downgrade previously granted permissions for app developers, Bluetooth LE Audio support, and more. As always, there are lots of under the hood changes and work-in-progress features that weren't mentioned in the official changelog. One such interesting change is a new wallpaper effects generation API that will make wallpapers more fun.
As spotted by Esper's Mishaal Rahman, Android 13 Developer Preview 2 lays the foundation for a new device personalization feature that will allow users to apply various fun effects to their wallpapers. In the latest version of the WallpaperPicker app included in the Developer Preview, there are new strings that point at a new "Effects" tab. According to Esper's analysis, the tab will feature multiple effects, including a 3D wallpaper effect that users can apply to their current wallpapers. These effects will be powered by a new WallpaperEffects API. Currently, the wallpaper effects generation service is disabled, so we don't know what the feature looks like or how it works.
While wallpaper effects aren't live at the time, Esper has managed to get their hands on a new feature called wallpaper dimming. As the name implies, this feature will let users dim the brightness of the wallpaper without changing the device brightness itself to add a nice contrasting effect. You can check out the screenshots attached below to see the feature in action:
Just like wallpaper effects, the dimming feature is also disabled and not accessible to end-users as of now. It will likely go live in the upcoming beta releases.
Esper notes that the service for implementing wallpaper effects will likely be proprietary (Pixel-exclusive), but the WallpaperEffects API seems to be open to OEMs. That means it might be possible for device makers to hook their own service into the API to offer a similar feature in their custom skin. In any case, we expect to learn more about new wallpaper effects and wallpaper dimming features in the months leading up to the final Android 13 release.
Source: Esper