Android will soon theme every app icon, and Google Play won’t let developers opt out

App icons rarely look similar unless they were designed by the same person or company. This makes them easy to distinguish from one another but can also leave home screens looking messy. To solve this, Google introduced the Themed Icons feature in Android 13, allowing users to change app icon colors to match their system theme. Support for this feature is currently opt-in, and many developers choose not to participate for various reasons. However, thanks to upcoming changes in the Android OS and Google Play, developers will no longer be able to prevent their app icons from being themed.

Currently, developers have to supply a monochromatic version of their app icon for Android to theme. This isn’t a huge technical undertaking, but there are several reasons why many developers don’t do this. For one, when all icons share a similar color palette, it becomes harder for a specific app to stand out. Secondly, some icons, particularly for games, feature complex designs that don’t translate well to a single color. Lastly, some companies feel that maintaining their icon’s original design is important for brand identity, as their logo appears unmodified elsewhere. As a result, many Android users who enable Themed Icons have to deal with a hodgepodge of themed and unthemed icons on their home screen.