Android 14 just hit a major milestone with the release of Developer Preview 2, and some of the more user-facing changes are starting to take shape as a result. There's a new flash-based notification system and Google is crippling some shady apps, plus work has continued on a new Credential Manager system that could bring an end to traditional passwords. But perhaps the most fun feature that has been spotted in the new version is an app that could let you mix and match emoji to create custom wallpapers.

Mishaal Rahman at our sister site XDA enabled a debug flag in the latest build that caused a new Emoji Wallpaper app to appear. The feature lets you pick up to 14 emoji, which it will then arrange in a pattern of your choosing to create a wallpaper. Options here include "Mosaic," "Lotus," "Stacks," and "Sprinkle," and once you've chosen a pattern, you can adjust the density of your emoji using a slider. Finally, you can choose a color theme to complete the look of your new custom wallpaper — or, if you're overwhelmed by the options, you can simply tap the Randomize button to have the app generate an emoji wallpaper for you.

Source: XDA

Google's no stranger to features that let you mix emoji together. The company's Gboard app has a popular feature called Emoji Kitchen that lets you merge multiple emoji together into one superemoji that does a better job of expressing your sentiment. While this new wallpaper feature doesn't generate emoji mashups, it does put them together into a new creation.

But once you've created a wallpaper, you can long-press an empty space on your home screen and choose Wallpaper & Style, then Change Wallpaper, and you should see a new Emoji Lab option. Selecting this will give you a chance to apply your creation to your home screen, lock screen, or both, and if you're not happy with the preview, there's a button that lets you go back and edit your wallpaper.

android-14-emoji-lab-4
android-14-emoji-lab-5

Source: XDA

This new wallpaper system isn't enabled by default on Android 14 DP2 — remember, Rahman had to toggle a debug flag to test it out — and it is likely to be a Pixel-exclusive feature whenever it does go live. But this lines up with previous reports that Google has been working on an AI-powered "wallpaper maker for Pixel phones," so we expect to see it in a production build relatively soon. If you'd like to see it in action, check out the demo video Rahman uploaded to XDA's YouTube channel: