The latest iteration of our favorite operating system is now in the public beta stage, with Android 14 Beta 1 rolling out earlier this week. The new beta is loaded with changes and is easy enough to join if you have a recent Pixel phone to run it. However, as with any beta, this build has its fair share of bugs, but one, in particular, doesn’t allow you to touch the dynamic theming for icons on the Pixel Launcher.
Soon after installing the latest Android 14 beta, we wanted to check out any new wallpapers included with the beta. Unfortunately, 9to5Google reports the Wallpaper and style menu simply crashes as soon as it opens, and continues behaving this way until dynamic theming for icons is turned off. Usually, you can open Wallpaper and style settings by long-pressing an empty space on the home screen or the Settings app, but both methods don’t seem to work here.
Because of this issue, it is impossible to select the dynamic theming color palette and a Pixel-exclusive wallpaper after updating to Android 14 Beta 1. At the time of writing, Google is yet to acknowledge the issue, and it could be a week (at least) before we see a fix released for this. Until then, there are a few workarounds we have identified.
We had success changing the wallpaper by picking an image from the Photos app and using it as a wallpaper, though. Even the icons adapted to the new wallpaper’s colors dynamically, suggesting the feature isn’t completely broken. If you want to change to one of the existing Pixel wallpapers, you can download it from our collection and apply it manually.
However, the workaround is a little more complicated if you want to switch off dynamic themed icons to use the Wallpaper and style utility. In our screenshots, you can see the toggle in the off position, even though the feature is in use, so it is no good even if you can interact with the UI momentarily. 9to5Google suggests clearing the Pixel Launcher app’s storage data under Settings > Apps > All apps > Pixel Launcher > Storage & cache > Clear storage.
This should reset all the launcher settings including dynamic theming for icons, which is turned off by default. However, remember that you may have to rearrange app icons on your home screen and set up folders all over again after this step.
In case you’re still on the fence about updating to the latest beta to check out all the recent improvements, we suggest you do, but just remember to switch off dynamic theming for icons in the Wallpaper and style settings before installing the update. Otherwise, you’re stuck with the above-mentioned workarounds. Here's our guide on how to install Android 14 Beta 1 on your Pixel phone.