When the Pixel and Pixel XL were just unannounced, rumored Nexus smartphones, we heard a lot about the Nexus Launcher, which we now know as the Pixel Launcher. When the launcher APK was finally and inevitably leaked to the Android community, it was pretty easy to sideload on a number of devices, but it had a strange quirk in that it required the Wallpaper Picker app to be included, too. This has now become simply “Wallpaper” and it’s now available in the Google Play Store for all Android devices – Pixel, Nexus or otherwise – to download and install.
What a lot of people will no doubt end up referring to as the “Google Wallpaper” app isn’t all that earth shattering in actuality. It’s little more than a different way of choosing what image you want to be your wallpaper, whether that’s lock screen, home screen or both. It does, of course, bring a touch of stock Android goodness to those phones that might be in sore need of some, such as the Galaxy S7 Edge or the LG V20. On top of that, it also brings with it the standard collection of Android wallpapers that Google themselves have chosen, and users can even choose a daily refreshing wallpaper, which will give you a new look each and every day. Given that the app is completely free to download, these aren’t bad features to scoff at by any means.
We say that the Google Wallpaper app is available for all Android devices, there are – unsurprisingly – a couple of caveats to keep in mind. First of which is that said Android device has to be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or above, and the second is that only devices running Android 7.0 Nougat or above can set separate home and lock screen wallpapers from within the app. Other than that, it appears that the vast majority of Android devices out there today can run the new Wallpaper app to its fullest. If you haven’t already sideloaded the Wallaper app, or want to update it from the Play Store, clicking the below button will take you to the Google Wallpaper Play Store listing.
