Android O Introducing an Animated Clock Icon, Soon Available in Custom Launchers

Google might be about to launch a new feature in Android O — Chris Lacy, who is the author of highly regarded Action Launcher, discovered that the Clock application would have an animated icon in launchers.

According to the developer, the Pixel Launcher will soon support the animated clock icon for the Google Clock app. Similar features were added a few years ago for the Google Calendar, but this one would obviously update a bit differently. The clock icon requires a much shorter interval, and Google found a way to implement it.

Chris Lacy discovered the following lines in the AndroidManifest.xml file of the Google Clock app.

AndroidManifest.xml

<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.LEVEL_PER_TICK_ICON_ROUND" 
  android:resource="@mipmap/launcher_clock"/>
<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.HOUR_LAYER_INDEX 
  android:value="1"/>
<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.MINUTE_LAYER_INDEX"
  android:value="2"/>
<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.SECOND_LAYER_INDEX"
  android:value="3"/>
<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.DEFAULT_HOUR" 
  android:value="10"/>
<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.DEFAULT_MINUTE" 
  android:value="10"/>
<meta-data 
  android:name="com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher.DEFAULT_SECOND" 
  android:value="30"/>

The APK contains the following images:

Of course, those elements combine to make an animated clock icon! This feature will be implemented and available in Action Launcher starting on version 25.0, which has been released. Additionally, the animated clock will be available as a standalone widget.

Animated clock icons are nothing new in the mobile world. This feature was available in early versions of Apple’s iOS, and Google needed a few years to introduce this feature to Android. It’s not a big thing, but it’s one step closer to make Android more consistent and beautiful. Moreover, the animated clock face should soon find its way to third party clock applications.

Hopefully, most of the currently-available launchers will have this feature. If you crave to have it on your device now, head over to the Google Play and get Action Launcher.

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Source: The Blerg