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Android P lifts the Flux White visuals, all the while it locks rootless theming

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By Daniel Petrov

Published: Mar 08, 2018, 6:08 AM

Android P lifts the Flux White visuals, all the while it locks rootless theming

Android has been playing catch-up with features that phone maker overlays already have for a while now, but at least it was visually different, with the flat, colorful Material Design guidelines that appealed to many. Up until today, that is, when Google outed the Android P Developer Preview, and said it will block access to custom overlays. Read: awesome rootless Substratum theming will no longer be possible with P. Bummer.

The irony? The new Android P visuals, heavily leaning to the white and OLED unfriendly variety, have been criticized for being a mixture of Xiaomi's MIUI (the circle switches in the shade) and Samsung's Experience UI (the colorful settings icons), but we need to look no further than some custom Substratum themes available in the Play Store to see where Google got its 9th inspiration from.

Like Flux White, for instance, which, as you can see above, has toggle and settings icons very similar to what Google demos, and on a blindingly white background to boot. To each their own.

source: Google Play

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.