Android 12L will fix the annoying wallpaper bug that crashes games

Until then, just don’t change the wallpaper

Android 12 is a major update that debuts significant new features like Material You, a dynamic theming engine, revamped widgets, and privacy enhancements. Thus, it's not surprising that there are plenty of bugs in the final release despite Google beta testing the OS for well over six months. One such bug affecting gamers is related to the dynamic theming engine, which restarts all app activities whenever the wallpaper is switched out. This leads to a scenario where games could crash if your device wallpaper automatically changes in the background.

As previously detailed, the issue is that changing the wallpaper in Android 12 results in a configuration change forcing all app activities to restart so that they use the new colors from the wallpaper for theming purposes. This configuration change affects games as well despite them not using Material You colors. The bug affects popular Android games like Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Pokémon Go.

The bug was first reported on the Google Issue Tracker in mid-September, and despite Google rolling out multiple updates since then, it remains unresolved. As per Mishaal Rahman, this issue will be tackled in Android 12L. The fix will ensure that background wallpaper changes will not trigger theme changes or force app activities to restart, thereby preventing crashes.

Android 12L is primarily meant for foldables, tablets, and devices with a big display, though it will also fix a number of Android 12 annoyances. Google has so far only released the first developer preview of Android 12L, with beta testing for the OS set to commence from December and last until February. The final release is scheduled to go live in early 2022. Until then, you can ensure this bug does not hamper your gaming sessions by disabling your automatic wallpaper switching app or increasing the change interval.

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