GoKawiilTL;DR Clues inside Android 17 QPR1 beta 5 reveal Google is working on a native “Photo Shuffle” feature for Pixel’s Wallpaper & style app.
The feature will allow users to select albums of people or pets to automatically cycle as wallpapers at hourly, daily, sunrise/sunset, or on-tap intervals.
This feature appears inspired by iOS, and could eliminate the need for battery-draining third-party apps to achieve the same functionality.
The iPhone-ification of Pixels has been underway for a while now. We’ve seen Google adopt iPhone’s Contact Posters in the form of Calling Cards through the Contacts app. More recently, we’ve seen Apple’s Handoff feature take form on Pixels as Continue On. There’s more “inspiration” on the way: Google could soon let you set a shuffling library of your favorite photos as your wallpaper, much like you already can on iPhones.
In Android 17 QPR1 beta 5, we’ve spotted clues for a new Photo Shuffle feature that looks (and even sounds) like iOS’ Photo Shuffle.
Here’s an early look at the upcoming Photo Shuffle option within the Pixel’s Wallpaper & style app:
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
As the description states, Photo Shuffle lets you create an album of your favorite people and pets to automatically shuffle through as your phone wallpaper.
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Users can select an existing album to cycle through its contents, or create a new album with people and pet photos of their choice. Since this is an early look, we couldn’t get either button to work. We don’t know if these buttons will hook into your Google Photos library, but there’s a decent chance they will, since the Wallpaper & style app already (optionally) connects to your Google Photos account to suggest photos to set as wallpapers.
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