Pokémon Sidekick

A live wallpaper port from the Google Pixel 4 devices.

Pranav Pandey
Android
06 Nov, 2019
3 Min read

Hello everyone! I am porting the Google Pixel Live Wallpapers to other devices since their original release in 2016. Recently, I have ported the Pixel 4 Live Wallpapers and Pokémon Sidekick Wallpaper was not a part of them.

Background

Some days ago we (with XDA) have revealed that Google is working on a new app to bundle all the wallpapers from the Pixel devices into a single package which will allow users to download them on demand via Google Play Dynamic Delivery to save some space.

Some people were asking to combine all the Pixel Wallpapers in a single package. Google is already doing this for Pixel 4 but now it has less chances of getting ported for other devices. https://t.co/nRpUU74Gfv
— Pranav Pandey (@pranavpandeydev) September 13, 2019

But again a new app was found from the Pixel 4 devices containing all the new live wallpapers except the Pikachu one as shown in the leaks. I have already ported it and you can download it via XDA thread.

I was wondering what happened to that app that we have tested earlier and later it popped up on the Google Play. So, this is the app which contains all the wallpapers from older Pixel devices (1, 2 and 3) with a new Pokémon Sidekick Wallpaper. As stated earlier, it uses Dynamic Delivery to download wallpapers on demand and hence makes it difficult to port for other devices as split APKs can’t be extracted easily.

I wanted to give it a try but original files were required to start my work. Thanks to @n0white_ for providing the original files and I kicked off my experiment which found to be working in a very strange way.

Say hello to Pikachu!

In a very strange way, but it’s working.

Thanks to @n0white_ for providing the original files.#Pixel #Pokemon #Sidekick #Wallpaper pic.twitter.com/ZOEWRciNA8
— Pranav Pandey (@pranavpandeydev) October 26, 2019

I have ported some other wallpapers (split APKs) also but they are very similar to the older ones so I am not releasing them for now. You can download them separately via XDA thread.

Instructions

Uninstall any previous APK otherwise, signature conflict will occur.
Download ZIP from the section below.
Extract it to get the 4 APK files.
Install them via ADB by using the below command:

adb install-multiple -r .\base_7.0-PranavPandey.apk .\split_config.arm64_v8a-PP.apk .\split_pokemon-PP.apk .\split_pokemon.config.arm64_v8a-PP.apk

You can also try Split APKs Installer.

Select from the live wallpapers:
Wallpapers > Live wallpapers.

On some devices/ROMs (like Samsung, etc.), please install Google Wallpapers to set the live wallpapers.
On some devices, it is required to allow the location permission manually via:
Settings > Apps > Pixel Live Wallpaper > Permission > Location.

It will not replace the previous Pixel Wallpapers as the package name is different. So, you can install all the wallpapers (from Pixel, 2, 3 and 4) together.

Pokémon Wave Hello app is also available for other devices which I have ported initially.

Downloads

ZIP with split APKs

Pokémon Sidekick Wallpaper 7.0+ ARM64
Pokémon Wave Hello 7.0+ ARM64

Issues

These apps may have some issues related to graphics or shaders which can’t be fixed by me. So, feel free to do your own research. However, you can share logcats for other types of issue.

Report logs

If any issue occurs please follow the steps below to capture log via adb. Please follow the official guide to install adb.

Enable Developer options on your device:
Settings > About phone > Build number > Tap seven times.
Go to Settings > Developer options > Turn on.
USB debugging > Turn on.
Capture log by typing this command in Terminal/CMD:

adb logcat

If your device is rooted, you can also use any third party app from Google Play (like CatLog, etc.).

Support

I have spent a lot of time in porting these wallpapers (Pixel 1-4). If you want to support my work, please try my apps via Google Play or donate via PayPal.