It's something custom ROMs have been able to do for years, but has never found its way into stock Android. Well, the second Android N dev preview changes that: Home screen and lock screen wallpapers can now be different, if you so choose.

When a wallpaper is set, it now asks if you'd like to apply the wallpaper on your Home screen, Lock screen, or both. Interestingly, while there aren't any stock live wallpapers in N Dev Preview 2 (live wallpapers are still supported, there's just not any preloaded), live wallpapers are not able to be set as just a lock screen wallpaper. It's not clear if this means the app needs updating to support the new feature, or live wallpapers can not be wallpapers on just the lock screen.

Left: wallpaper options. Right: live wallpaper options, missing 'Lock screen.'

Like the new folders, this isn't actually a feature of N: it's a feature of the Google app that's preloaded onto N by default, version 5.12.16.NYC.21 (it's odexed so won't run anywhere but N preview 2). It's likely Google will update the Google app at some point to support this, but when that'll be is anyone's guess.

Note: If you're in the Google app beta, its version is higher than what ships in the dev preview, and it doesn't have the new wallpaper options. A future update from the Play Store will likely enable them.

Thanks: Mahmoud, Andy, and everyone who sent this in!