Google’s new Magic Portrait characteristic is a Pixel-perfect delight

Forward of its annual I/O developer convention for 2025, Google lately took the wraps off

its fresh new design language
for the Android working system. When this Materials 3 Expressive visible overhaul was first leaked forward of its official unveiling,

I wasn’t initially sold on it
— I am typically resistant to alter, and I felt not sure about all of the added blurs and animations sprinkled all through the system.

A few days in the past, I obtained the Android 16 QPRI Beta 1 over-the-air (OTA) replace on

my own personal Pixel 9 Pro
, giving me an opportunity to check out Materials 3 Expressive for myself. Because it seems, I am an enormous fan of Google’s new design language: when in movement on my system, it is aesthetically pleasing and subtly playful, with sensible consideration to element.

Whereas I used to be actually anticipating the Materials 3 Expressive interface tweaks to hit my Pixel with this beta replace, I wasn’t anticipating the arrival of a brand new characteristic within the type of Magic Portrait. Magic Portrait is a brand new wallpaper impact that ties in with Google’s refreshed

Android
design language efforts, providing computerized picture framing and a enjoyable animated unlock transition.

Utilizing

artificial intelligence
, Android’s new Magic Portrait characteristic is ready to isolate the foreground and background parts of any portrait photograph in your gallery. From right here, it surfaces numerous framing choices for adjusting the cutout form, whereas letting you tweak the colour accenting to finest match the colours pulled out of your picture in query.

When it is all arrange, the top result’s a

lock screen
with a pretty foreground topic within the highlight, with a seamless unlock animation when transitioning into the house display surroundings. When the house display is reached, the remainder of the photograph is revealed in a single swift and silky-smooth movement.

Magic Portrait is an absolute delight

In movement, the characteristic brings Android wallpapers to life

I attempted Google’s new Magic Portrait characteristic with a number of portrait pictures of myself and family members, and the AI-powered topic lifting labored effortlessly each time. It solely takes a few seconds for the system to work its magic, and the ensuing lock display design is all the time a stunner for my part. I am essential of AI options for AI’s sake, however Magic Portrait is a type of far-and-few-between purposes of AI that feels pure and genuinely helpful in elevating the smartphone expertise.

I additionally examined out Magic Portrait with non-portrait photos, to combined success. In fact, the picture you throw on the system must have a discernible topic and background, so it will not work effectively with, say, a panorama photograph of a canyon. That being stated, I discovered the characteristic to work effectively with close-up pictures of issues like flowers, and pets are a really perfect pairing for the characteristic as effectively. As ever in Google’s post-Material You Android era, the OS is great at pulling out visually harmonious accent colours that add further polish to the general impact.

Except for adjusting shapes and isolating topics, Magic Portrait can be used to transpose climate results onto any lock display picture of your selecting. These embody fog, rain, snow, and solar, with an extra choice to dynamically match your native climate situations. I discovered this characteristic to work effectively, with granular management over the depth of the impact obtainable by way of a slider. Lastly, Magic Portrait ropes within the present cinematic characteristic that has existed on Pixel telephones for a while now, which makes use of AI so as to add a unusual parallax impact to images (one which I’ve by no means discovered significantly convincing in my testing).

Magic Portrait is a type of uncommon AI-powered options that serves to please the consumer in a method that “simply works,” fairly than bending over backwards to attempt to justify itself. It is a completely optionally available expertise, however I discover it provides a contact of much-needed persona to the Pixel expertise. Different Android OEMs, in addition to

Apple
with its newer iOS variations, have featured comparable parallax, background isolating, or unlock transition results up to now, however I feel Google’s expressive tackle the thought is a house run, even whereas nonetheless in its beta type.

Associated

Google Gemini is coming to your smartwatch, TV, and car next

Gemini is quickly increasing to much more Android units, together with your smartwatch and TV.