Pixel's new 'Live effects' wallpaper feature falls flat with users

Back in June, Google added a ‘Live effects’ feature to the wallpaper picker in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2. Since then, there hasn’t been much talk about it apart from a few articles mentioning how to use or enable it. Fast forward to now, the feature went live for everyone alongside the Android 16 QPR1 stable update, which arrived with the September patch. Meanwhile, Pixel 10 buyers had the feature out of the box.

So what’s exactly wrong? Well, it turns out that some users are reporting that the effects don’t work at all, while others are annoyed by the fact that the effects disappear within seconds. 

One post on Google’s support forums from a Pixel 10 Pro XL user suggests that the effects don’t appear on the wallpaper even after applying them successfully. That post has 15 votes from others who claim to be facing the same issue. Although I suspect that some votes are also from people who noticed that the effects disappear within no time at all.

Meanwhile, on Reddit, people are confused whether the effects going away in seconds is a bug or if that’s how ‘Live effects’ are supposed to work on Pixel phones.

I tested the ‘Live effects’ on a Pixel 7a with the September update and on a Pixel 8 with the Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 update and noticed the same thing. The effects lasted no more than 3-4 seconds before reverting to the static wallpaper.

This suggests that it’s more likely the intended behavior, which, honestly, is a bummer. Much like others discussing the problem, I find it somewhat of a pointless addition if it’s just for a few seconds. 

It would make more sense to have the effects running continuously, especially the weather effect, where you have the option to set the animation to match the weather in your area.

While there’s no word from Google about its decision to limit the animation to a few seconds, an educated guess would be that it’s to prevent higher battery drain.

That said, feel free to share your thoughts on the feature in the comments below.

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