Material You’s unicolor themes are doomed to fail

Opinion post by

Rita El Khoury

Google is doubling down on Material You, its reboot of Material Design. In an announcement made earlier this month, the company said it plans on expanding the Pixel-exclusive dynamic theming to other brands. Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi, and other smartphone makers will be able to tap into Google’s APIs to allow apps, icons, and widgets to adapt their colors to your chosen wallpaper.

While this is a necessary step in Google’s strategy for a more cohesive Android experience, it doesn’t solve Material You’s biggest problem: It’s just wishful thinking. Material You is exciting as long as developers are willing to jump on board, but very few have and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.