Customization possibilities on Android nearly endless, but sometimes, a new thing gets showcased that isn’t available for everyone. When that happens, the process of me lobbying Google to make it native to Android begins, with the latest entry being this depth effect for wallpapers on Android.
Enabled by 3rd-party developer @Siavash7999 and showcased by our friend Mishaal Rahman, the idea is quite simple. Let’s say you have a wallpaper with a very clear foreground and background, such as the image above shows. Using the ML Kit’s subject segmentation API, you can have a depth effect added and allow your device’s clock widget to interact nicely with said effect. The results can be strikingly awesome.
Now, because this is Android after all, some OEMs have a function like this already, such as Xiaomi’s HyperOS. The thing is, for us in the US, we basically have only a couple Android brands to reasonably choose from and none of them offer this sort of feature. That doesn’t mean they can’t, though.
For those of you still rooting your Android phone, you can actually play with this feature right now via the latest canary build of the PixelXpert Xposed module. You can find that here. Again, you’ll need to be rooted, which we know some of you are.
For the rest of us, we kindly ask that you incorporate this immediately and have it ready for Android 15’s release, Google. Thanks.