Since Material You arrived last year, more and more apps have been updated to use its dynamic theme features. If you’re not familiar with Material You, it’s a collection of customization features in Android 12. Along with new shapes and animations, it can generate a curated selection of themes to match your wallpaper, each with a set of perfectly contrasting colors. There’s a lot more under the hood that powers the dynamic theme, because picking the perfect color scheme isn’t a simple process.
We’ve rounded up the best apps that support Material You. Although most apps supported by Material You are still developed by Google, the number of third-party apps keeps growing. If you haven’t tried out Material You yet, make sure you get the most out of customizing your phone’s Material You theme before grabbing these apps.
tape
Tapet, like Material You, is a unique customization. While many wallpaper apps compete for the most comprehensive library, Tapet can create completely original wallpapers. Nothing is downloaded from the Internet because everything is quickly generated in the application. It’s a nice way to see what you can do, because your theme will update as soon as the wallpaper changes.
While the Google Wallpaper app may upload a new wallpaper every day, Tapet may update as often as every minute. You can customize how often you want to see certain models and save your favorites for the future.
Infinite
While we wait for the final release of Sync’s Material You redesign, Infinity is a great alternative for your Reddit feed. Its Material You theme can be customized within the app, with color sliders for everything from the toolbar to text on buttons.
Infinity provides a host of great features, including lazy scrolling. Lazy Scrolling automatically scrolls your feed, so you don’t have to move your thumb to see new content. It is also open source, an ideal choice for anyone looking to expand their collection of open source applications.
Google Keep
Google Keep is a quick and easy to use notes app. As a Google app, it includes the full range of Material You features, from dynamic themes to rounded buttons. Beyond that, it offers a range of color and background options for your notes, bringing a surprising amount of life to your shopping lists.
Google also offers Keep as a web app and Chrome extension. Notes are synced across every version so you can edit and view notes taken on any device.
Inware
Inware breaks down your device’s specs and wraps it up in a nice package. Taking the Material You philosophy to heart, it’s easy to forget that this isn’t one of Google’s apps. It’s quick and simple to navigate, offering your device’s data in a series of easy-to-navigate menus.
While your phone can tell you basic information about your device, Inware takes it a step further by showing Media DRM information, battery temperature, display information, and more. This is ideal if you want to know as much as possible about your device.
Tasker
Tasker is for those who like to automate every little thing in their life. Part of the appeal of Material You is that after years of identical home screens, Android phones would look noticeably different from each other. Tasker takes it a step further by letting you run your phone more efficiently. It’s similar to the Google Assistant routines but much more powerful.
Tasker offers a list of over 350 actions that you can combine with triggers to create a variety of automatic functions. For example, you can change the volume when you leave the house or enable Do Not Disturb when opening a specific app. It is an extraordinarily powerful application that offers a true personalization experience.
Niagara launcher
Material You is not just for stock Android 12 launchers. Niagara Launcher is a beautifully minimalist launcher that provides easy one-handed access to all your apps. Due to its minimalist nature, its Material You features are less obvious than Android 12’s, but it provides just enough themes to round out the experience. Unfortunately, Pixel users will miss the themed icon feature.
Niagara Launcher keeps your experience light. Rather than a fixed layout, information such as calendar events and the media player are displayed only when needed. Its unique layout takes some getting used to, but is a great alternative to the grid layout favored by other launchers.
Wavelet
Wavelet is the perfect app for audiophiles who are also obsessed with aesthetics. It offers a wide selection of EQ features to fine-tune your audio, including bass boost, reverb simulator and channel balance. Wavelet also offers over 3000 preset optimizations for headset models, saving you time when setting up a new headset.
Wavelet’s Material You integration is remarkably splendid. Beyond the menus and buttons, it adjusts the colors of each chart and slider to match your theme.
Hopefully, all of our favorite Android apps will be decked out in Material You this year. Only time will tell which service is next to adopt dynamic themes.
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