According to new findings under the hood of Google’s software, future Pixel updates may deliver support for a “shuffle” option for wallpapers.

Your wallpaper is perhaps the center of customization on your phone. It’s the first thing many change, but it’s not always something you want to leave in place forever. On many devices, you can set your wallpaper to change at set intervals, sourced from a gallery of your choice. This is supported on Samsung Galaxy, Oppo, and countless other Android devices, as well as Apple’s iPhone.

But not on Google Pixel.

That may be changing, though. The folks over at Android Authority spotted a new “Photo shuffle” option that can “auto-refresh your wallpaper” on Google Pixel phones in the latest Android 17 QPR1 beta. The feature isn’t live by default, but it can be manually enabling by flipping some switches behind the scenes.

Google describes the feature saying:

Create an album of your favorite people & pets to auto-refresh your wallpaper.

A partial screenshot shows the entry screen:

Based on the language seen, it’s hard to say whether or not this works across any image of your choice, or if it’s just limited to specific subjects. The imagery on this entry screen does show some landscapes and plants, though, so it stands to reason it’s not just for “people & pets.”

Further into the code, refresh intervals include hourly, daily, at sunrise/sunset, or “on tap,” which could refer to locking/unlocking your phone, but it also could refer to a button dedicated to swapping your wallpaper out. It’s hard to say for sure.

The ability to have shuffling wallpapers already exists – and has for the better part of a decade – but only in Collections that Google has built out. You can’t select your own images, which is what this new feature seems to be built for. Seeing as it’s not live by default, though, it’s hard to say when this feature might arrive, especially given that we’re only just finding out about it now.

Would you use this feature?

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