Android 7.1.2 Nougat lets some users choose where to display live wallpapers

The Android 7.1.2 Nougat developer preview was unleashed earlier this week and what seemed like a minor upgrade may have more to it than you’d expect. We’ve already discovered that the Pixel’s fingerprint gesture was now available on the Nexus 5X (thank goodness), and we’ve now learned that you can choose where to set live wallpapers.

Or, at least, some people can choose. While many report that this feature was available since Android 7.1.1, others claim that it’s not even available on their 7.1.2 build (it doesn’t appear to be related to Google Play Services, as has been speculated).

Previously, those who wanted a live wallpaper — one of the fancy, moving wallpapers — on just the home screen were cruelly forced to apply it to both home and lock screens simultaneously. If you, for example, would have liked a live wallpaper as your home screen wallpaper, and then, say, a photo of a walnut wearing a tiny top hat as you lock screen wallpaper — well, it was just too bad.

Android 7.1.2 seems to have addressed this on some phones, so to find out if it’s working on your Nougat device, tap and hold an empty space on your home screen, tap Wallpapers and select one from the category labeled ‘Live’. Next, tap Set Wallpaper and see if you can apply it to just the home screen on its own. Note that non-live wallpapers could always be set on the home screen or home and lock screen.

If you don’t have the functionality, you can try installing the latest version of Google Play Services, but it seems like a hit and miss solution.