Thematic icons on Android are available on Pixel devices, Samsung Galaxy devices, and several other Android overlays. This option requires developers to enable its support, and the app icon will be adjusted to the colors of the Material You palette, according to the wallpaper theme. It’s a very quick and easy way to create a cohesive theme on an Android device, but it can be really frustrating when apps don’t support this feature.
Fortunately, most of the apps I regularly use support thematic icons on my device’s home screen. I’m glad that Spotify, Twitter, and Threads offer this option, which gives a consistent look across all my devices. Unfortunately, on the other side of the screen, the situation is less positive.
On the other side of my device’s screen, almost half of the apps support thematic icons. Google Apps like Wallet, Maps, Keep, and Fitbit have this feature, and many third-party apps like AccuWeather, UDisc, Reddit, Cash App, and others have had this feature for a while. I’m also happy that Meta introduced support for thematic icons on Instagram and Facebook last year.
But there are still many apps that don’t support thematic icons on Android, despite so much time passing.
Some of the most unsupported apps are:
– Amazon
– Feedly
– GeForce Now
– Netflix
– Venmo
– GPay
– PayPal
Of course, there are many others. Games, on the other hand, rarely use this feature, but it can be understood as their icons are usually more complex. After several years, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to forgive apps that completely ignore this function.
A recent frustrating example is Microsoft Copilot. This artificial intelligence service is located on the other side of the screen next to ChatGPT and Google Gemini, and it doesn’t fit at all. The whole Microsoft company, including Office apps, Bing, OneDrive, and Outlook, doesn’t support thematic icons. The only Microsoft app I am aware of that supports thematic icons on Android is the Edge browser. I find that a bit strange, especially considering Microsoft’s investment in Samsung and its own Android devices, to which the company claims to be “committed”.
Google is working on an option in the background that will force all apps to support thematic icons, but it has not been implemented yet. Users can also manually create thematic icons for apps, but it’s not particularly easy.
Not everyone may like thematic icons. In my opinion, it’s easy to get lost in apps if you’re not familiar with this feature. This is especially true for Samsung devices, as One UI applies these icons throughout the system, not just on the home screen. Google is right in not using thematic icons in the app drawer and only displaying them on the home screen.
How about you? How many apps on your home screen don’t have thematic icons? Vote in the poll below and leave a comment with the most notorious unsupported apps on your screen.
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The source of the article is from the blog maestropasta.cz