OK Google, it’s time to support app icon packs on Pixel phones

Ever since Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1 was released a little over a week ago, the number of new features and changes we’ve discovered has almost been overwhelming. Material 3 Expressive is the star of the show, but we’ve found loads of other things too — most recently, evidence of something called “Pixel themes.”

What is Pixel themes, you ask? We don’t fully know yet. We managed to enable a new “Themes” tab in the Wallpaper and style app, which is described as letting you “Discover Pixel themes” through a new (and unreleased) “Pixel Customization Packs” application. None of it is working right now, but it all strongly suggests Google Pixel phones will soon gain new customization options through this theming system.

This could mean so many different things – anything from new wallpapers, fonts, app icon designs, and more. But above all else, if Google is serious about making Pixels more customizable, then it’s time to finally support app icon packs.

As it stands today, app icon customization on Pixel phones is next to non-existent. Android 12 introduced themed icons to match applications with your phone’s accent color, but almost four years later, the feature is still technically in beta and lacks ample developer support. Later versions of Android 16 will introduce app icon shapes, allowing you to customize the shape of your app icons, such as changing them from a circle to a square or a clover.

And … that’s it. Compared to virtually every other Android skin on the market, Google’s tools for app icon personalization are the most restrictive. Arguably, the most glaring omission is the complete absence of icon pack support.

Since the earliest days of Android, app icon customization via third-party icon packs has been one of the best ways to personalize your home screen. It has the most immediate effect on how your phone looks, and there are virtually endless options in terms of icon pack design.

A quick visit to the Google Play Store proves this. Want something with a simple, clean design? The Simply Adaptive Icon Pack has you covered. Miss the time of unique app shapes before everything was a boring circle? Lena Icon Pack is a great way to relive the glory days. And if you want something a bit more playful, the Olympia icon pack is oozing with style.

There are years’ worth of excellent app icon packs all over the Play Store, and today, many Android skins support them out of the box with their default launcher. OnePlus’s OxygenOS natively supports icon packs with its launcher, as does NothingOS on Nothing Phones. After downloading the Theme Park module from Good Lock, you can even use icon packs with Samsung’s One UI.

This hasn’t always been the case, but in recent years, native icon pack support has become more common — but not with Pixels. While OnePlus, Nothing, Samsung, and others have seen the light, Google annoyingly remains in the dark.

While this may be a small thing to complain about in the grand scheme of things, it’s one of those omissions that’s all the more frustrating because of how simple it is. Google, the owner and ruler of Android, should be able to support app icon packs with the flick of a switch. Yet in all the years we’ve had Pixel phones (and Nexus phones before that), Google has never shown any interest in doing so.

That’s why seeing something like Pixel themes is so promising; it’s the first time in years that Google has shown any indication of changing its ways in this area. While the existence of Pixel themes doesn’t guarantee icon pack support is coming, it at least gives me hope that’s the direction we’re headed.

While it can be easy to assume icon pack support will be part of this new Pixel themes system, I could easily see Google doing something far less interesting with it — such as using it as a mechanism to bundle exisitng customization tools like accent colors, wallpapers, etc. Considering the company’s previous resistance to app icon customization, it’s worth preparing for the possibility that Google may drop the ball.

On a more personal level, though, I really hope that’s not the case. Icon pack support on Pixel phones has been something I’ve wanted for years, and having a glimmer of hope that it may finally happen is undeniably exciting. Google is seemingly creating a system where app icon packs would make sense to exist. And if something like Pixel themes isn’t enough to finally get Google on board, I’m not sure what will.

We should learn more about Pixel themes in the weeks ahead, and I’ll be crossing my fingers the entire time that icon packs are part of it. Please, Google, don’t mess this one up.