Google experimenting with using app icons for notifications in Android 15

Google is experimenting with replacing notification icons with app icons in Android 15.

Android expert Mishaal Rahman, writing for Android Authority, uncovered the changes while exploring the Android 15 source code Google shared with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). According to Rahman, there are several flags for changing how notification icons work.

Currently, notifications use specific icons to indicate the source of the notification but only appear in white or grey, depending on the device theme. These icons appear in little circles which sport a colour similar to the app in question. For example, emails sport an ‘M’ icon that’s similar to the Gmail logo, notifications from Chrome are marked with a black-and-white version of the Chrome logo, and WhatsApp notifications sport the WhatsApp logo.

However, Google is testing two different versions of notification symbols. The first test replaces icons in the a tiny version of the app icon. So going back to the Gmail example, instead of a little white ‘M’ icon, emails get the full Gmail app icon complete with white circle and colourful ‘M’ logo.

The other test spotted by Rahman uses apps’ monochrome icons, which are what’s used with Android’s themed icons. However, this test seems to have some contrast issues.

Ultimately, I’m not sure how I feel about using app icons for notification icons. On the one hand, they don’t like quite as nice in the status bar as the current notification icons, though I do appreciate that everything is consistently circular. On the other hand, using app icons in the notification bar would make it much easier to parse which notifications come from which apps at a glance.

Of course, these are just tests for now and it’s not clear if Google plans to make any changes here. However, Rahman has detailed the company’s work on a larger notification refresh aimed for Android 16, so it’s definitely possible this experiment could be part of the company’s work on that overhaul.

Source: Android Authority