iPhone Photo Shuffle May Come to Google’s Pixel
by Kellen · Droid LifeShuffling the wallpaper on your home screen, like with the iPhone’s Photo Shuffle, is currently something that can only be done on a very simple level on a Google Pixel phone. That could soon change in an upcoming update to Android 17.
Evidence within the latest Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5 that rolled out last week to the entire Google Pixel line-up has a feature that is currently called “Photo shuffle.” This is a “Shuffle your wallpaper” experience where you can “Create an album of your favorite people & pets to auto-refresh your wallpaper.”
This sounds like a nice upgrade over the current wallpaper refresh tool on Pixel phones that only works in a limited way if you choose a wallpaper Collection. This new “Photo shuffle” would allow you to get creative, choose the people and pets you would like to see, and set a specific time when the wallpaper shuffles.
Since it mentions your favorite people and pets, I’d imagine this will connect to Google Photos to be able to easily pull those types of photos in. As you know, Google Photos can already organize and label people and pets from your entire library with quick shortcuts for accessing them.
Behind-the-scenes code points to a way to change wallpapers on tap, hourly, daily, or with sunrise/sunset.
For those not familiar with this feature on an iPhone, it works in a similar way. When you “Add New Wallpaper” to an iPhone, there is a “Photo Shuffle” option that lets you select “People & Pets,” “Nature,” and “Cities.” You can also specify an Album, set the shuffle frequency, use feature photos, or choose each photo manually.
Android 17 QPR1 is in Beta 5 and this feature is not currently live for you to use. Since the code and feature are starting to show up, though, this could be something we see Google launch when QPR1 goes stable in September.
Is this the feature of your Pixel dreams?