Themes are a big part of Android 12, offering all-new ways for customizing your phone as much as you want. Unfortunately, there are a couple of places where it seems like Google has locked everyone into a single visual element. In Android 12 Beta 2, the Recent apps page has replaced your wallpaper with a new solid backdrop that uses Monet to pull colors from your wallpaper.
In Beta 1 — not to mention most other Android versions — your phone's background added a splash of color to the Recents screen. In the latest beta, this is completely gone, replaced with an opaque off-white shade that fades in and out as you load into your apps. Like the rest of the new interface, a touch of color is pulled from the wallpaper on your device, but the interface no longer appears to float above your home screen. Instead, it just looks like a new page, separate from the rest of your apps and widgets.
Left: Android 12 Beta 1. Middle, Right: Android 12 Beta 2.
Each card in this menu has dropped its rounded corners (although not for some of our commenters, so YMMV), but the rest of the Recent apps display — including options for "Screenshot" and "Select," as well as the app icons at the top of the page — remains unchanged from Beta 1. Emphasizing the separation between your recently-opened apps and the home screen marks a big departure for Android 12, something we'll have to adjust to when the stable version launches in just a couple of months.