In an aesthetic upgrade, Instagram’s Android app icon now dynamically adapts to your phone’s wallpaper colors. This feature, rolled out on 23 October 2023, transitions the once static icon, allowing for a more personalized user experience on the home screen.
Key Highlights:
- Dynamic Theming: Instagram’s Android app icon now supports dynamic theming, changing its color to match your phone’s wallpaper hues.
- Material You Integration: This update aligns with Android 13’s Material You design guidelines, which aim to create a cohesive visual experience by theming app icons based on the active wallpaper colors.
- Version Specific: The dynamic icon theme is incorporated from version 307.0.0.0.0.30 of the Instagram Android app.
- Trend Adoption: While other social media apps had already adopted themed icons, Instagram was a late entrant to this trend, only now catching up to rivals like Reddit, Twitter, and Snapchat.
The adoption of dynamic theming by Instagram’s Android app is a welcomed change that aligns with the broader trend of personalization and aesthetic cohesion on mobile platforms. The change is made possible by Android’s Material You design guidelines, which have been progressively adopted by app developers since the release of Android 13. The Material You design approach involves the Monet theming engine picking out core colors from the user’s active wallpaper and applying these colors to various UI elements including app icons, creating a visually pleasing and harmonized look across the user interface.
This feature is applicable to devices running Android 13 or above and is implemented from version 307.0.0.0.0.30 of the Instagram app, according to a share by Apex Android expert Mishaal Rahman. The dynamic theming allows the Instagram app icon to automatically borrow colors from the active wallpaper, thus blending with the overall color scheme of the home screen.
It’s important to note that Instagram was somewhat late to adopt this aesthetic feature compared to other social media platforms. Platforms like Reddit, Twitter, and Snapchat had already integrated dynamic theming for their app icons, making Instagram a straggler in this visual trend. However, with this move, Instagram has shown its willingness to adapt and provide its users with a more visually coherent and personalized user experience.
Instagram’s new feature of dynamic theming for its Android app icon is a significant step towards a more personalized and aesthetically pleasing user interface. This change, aligning with Android’s Material You design guidelines, not only enhances user experience but also keeps Instagram in pace with other social media apps in adopting the latest visual trends.
