Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
My close-to-ideal toggle setup in Android 16. One UI 8.5 should make it better.
TL;DR
- One UI 8.5 might force dark-themed icons for all apps, giving the home screen a unified nighttime look.
- Samsung’s next update could also give app icons a subtle 3D redesign with drop shadows, appearing in both light and dark modes.
- This move aligns with a recent Google policy change that requires app developers to allow for automatic icon theming.
Samsung’s next update may finally address one of the most persistent and overlooked issues with dark mode in recent years: app icons that never adapt to the nighttime theme. A recently surfaced One UI 8.5 leak provides the first substantial look at Samsung’s plan for addressing this issue, and it’s about time.
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A short clip posted by tipster Galaxy Techie on X shows how One UI 8.5 is preparing to force dark-themed app icons across the board. When and if the update lands, you could get a home screen where every app icon fits the darker aesthetic.
As shown in the screenshots below, the new icons get a slightly 3D-ish look in both light and dark modes, with subtle drop shadows. This coincides with Samsung’s 3D experiment for app icons in One UI 8.5, which was first revealed on Weibo last month. The result will be a more polished home screen that actually feels like it belongs in dark mode.
Galaxy Techie’s clip makes it pretty clear that app backgrounds are finally syncing properly with the system’s dark mode. The rollout isn’t perfect yet, but that’s expected while Samsung continues to tune things behind the scenes.
For years, Samsung’s dark mode has handled almost everything, except app icons. You’d switch the entire phone into a darker theme, only to be greeted with a grid of bright, white app icons that refused to match the vibe. It’s not just unsightly, but also ruins the “everything matches” vibe that dark mode is supposed to deliver.
A few months ago, Android Authority reported that Google would make its Themed Icons feature mandatory by automatically creating themed icons for apps that don’t have them. To do this, Google updated its Play Store policy, requiring developers to allow users to change their app icons’ colors.
One UI 8.5 is still in internal testing, but leaks suggest a beta build could be formally launched on December 8. Hopefully, it’ll transform your screen from having a “half-baked dark mode” to a “put-together night mode.”
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