Android P, released just a few weeks back brought with it quite a few new features. However, the removal of support for substratum theme engine stuck out like a sore thumb. Substratum is a theme engine / themer which allows for extensive customization on android devices. Android Oreo had brought with it native support for substratum. This was warmly welcomed by the developer community.

Substratum – Thou Shall Not Be Removed

For years, extensive themeing of android devices was only possible when you rooted your phone. (For people wondering what is root?, and why would anyone do it?, head on over to this article for a taste of things that can be done on a rooted android device). Now, with Android Oreo it was finally possible to theme your Android device without voiding your warranty or putting your Android smartphone through any of the dangers that come along with rooting.Developers believed for a while, that Google was finally moving towards offering greater aesthetic choices to users. However, the omission of support for substratum with Android P suggests it might not be so.

Google be like

What does all this mean for the end user- for you? Well, you won’t be able to install beautiful themes like these:

 

You wouldn’t be able to change the look of android to anything other than white, rounded and spacious.

well, cya later substratum!

What can YOU do?

Developers of Substratum were obviously blindsided by this new development.However, the Android community has decided fight back against this seemingly irrational change by Google. YOU, dear reader can help bring this feature back to android.Following are the meaningful ways in which you could contribute:

• Team Substratum is now petitioning Google to allow custom overlays on Android P. Christopher Kardas, Public Relations and Community Connections Manager of Project Development (Substratum), created a Change.org petition asking Google to reverse this change and allow third-party custom overlays to be installed and used in Android P.
• In addition, we recommend you star, but do not comment on, this report on the Google Issue Tracker. This is Google’s official means of reporting a bug or requesting a feature, so it’s best that those interested in this endeavor also show their support through this avenue. Again, do not comment on the Issue Tracker—it sends an e-mail to everyone which is unnecessary and disruptive to fellow supporters.