Material You is the name for the design language Google has used on the latest iteration of its Android OS. According to a 9to5Google report, Chrome for Android now features slightly larger tab switcher cards with rounded corners. But more importantly, they support dynamic coloring. On devices running Android 11 or older, Chrome for Android highlights the most recent tab on the tab switcher menu with a blue accent all around. All other cards feature a grey accent. But with Android 12’s dynamic coloring, tab cards match the color scheme of your wallpaper. The most recent tab still features a more prominent hue but other cards no longer remain grey. Tab Group backgrounds sport the most standout look following the dynamic coloring update. The URL bar/search box also picks up a dynamic coloring tint. The change is more visible on the light theme than the dark theme though. That’s all as far as the Material You redesign of Chrome for Android is concerned, at least for now. There’s surely more to come. Google was last month spotted testing dynamic coloring throughout the entire Settings menu. With Android 12 set to arrive in the stable channel for Pixel devices soon, it shouldn’t be long before the company rolls out these changes to Chrome for Android. If you’re using your device on Android 12 beta, the latest Chrome update with Material You redesign and dynamic coloring should be available for you via the Google Play Store. As the report notes, you might need to force stop the app from the “App info” page for the changes to show up.
Chrome for Android picks up Material You redesign with dynamic coloring
Dynamic coloring is the best part of Android 12’s Material You redesign. Powered by the monet theme engine, this feature enables the UI elements across the system as well as supported individual apps to automatically match the color scheme of your wallpaper for a uniform look. Google has been rolling out the changes to its first-party apps for the past few months. Chrome for Android is the latest beneficiary of this. Unfortunately, Google isn’t making the monet theme engine available on AOSP (Android Open Source Project) with Android 12. Meaning non-Pixel Android smartphones will not get dynamic coloring. But there’s some hope and evidence that a future release will bring this feature to phones from other OEMs as well.
