Android 15 is here and coming to Pixel 9 phones in the "coming weeks." While we have a good sense of the new features coming with the update, there are still a few things we don't know — including changes to notifications and the status bar.
Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman has been digging into the code in the last couple of weeks and unearthed code that could change how notifications appear on your phone. This after he uncovered an experimental way of using notifications and the quick settings menu last week, though that might not come out until Android 16.
The experiment Rahman found involves switching up the app-supplied icons you're used to seeing with the apps' main icons. Another version replaces them with monochrome icon, or a themed icon, if it's available.
Based on what he found, the current icons have a more aesthetic fit with other icons in the status bar. However, the version with the main icons grabs your attention easier and appears to make it quicker to see what's come in at a glance. The monochrome variant turns some icons black or dark grey, which makes them nearly unreadable.
According to Rahman, these icon variations can also be seen on the always-on display when your phone is locked. The big difference there though is that the main app icon variant comes in monochrome instead of color like the status bar versions. For some icons, like Gmail, it makes it harder to see at a glance, whereas the standard icon is much easier to read.
Additionally, it looks like the icon changes can also be applied to the notifications shelf where you can see small previews of messages that have come in.
From an aesthetic perspective, the normal notifications still look much cleaner and pleasing to the eye. However, especially with the main icon variant, it is easier to tell what app is pushing the notification.
Of the three icon notifications available, the standard remains the strongest with the strange monochrome variant being nearly unreadable. However, the main app icon version is interesting and does appear to make notifications clearer. I do think readability will really depend on the app, where some apps will be harder to decipher than others in this shrunk down form.
For now, these icon changes appear to just be an experiment. However, it does appear Google is testing a variety of changes to notifications that could change how we interact with our devices going forward.
As always with these code teardowns, what we're seeing is a glimpse of ideas that Google is working on. They can produce features that we'll see in the future or it could be an experiment that goes nowhere and never sees the light of day. Or Google could change how they implement what we see and the final version is altered from what is currently available.
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