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The 10 Best Android 12 Features
10 exciting new features in the Android 12 update
By Briley S. Kenney Briley S. Kenney Writer Hillsborough Community College Briley Kenney has 10+ years' experience writing about technology. His work is featured at Ideaing, Smartwatches.org, Tech Cocktail, CMSCritic, and more. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on September 9, 2021 Reviewed by Ryan Perian Reviewed by Ryan Perian Western Governors University Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Android Switching from iOS Android 12 is coming, and with it, Google’s OS is getting a facelift. The Beta is available right now! Besides some gorgeous visual upgrades, there are many new features. Personalization is the core theme of the update—it is “designed for you”—and many of the new features are centered around providing a deeply personal experience to Android users. Some notable features are the redesigned systems spaces, a fully adaptable quick settings shade, and a user privacy dashboard. Android 12: Release Date, Rumors, Features, and Supported Devices While not all of the new features have been revealed, and there may be dozens more, these are the ten best we’ll see in Android 12. 01 of 10 Visual Overhaul and Material You
image credit: Google What We Like Complete visual evolution. Snappy animations. New motion effects. More personalization than ever. What We Don't Like Won't come to all devices. There's a learning curve. Android 12 will include one of the most significant design changes in its history called Material You. The colors, shapes, themes, animation, and just about everything related to the experience have been revamped. The result is a more expressive, dynamic, and personalized system. From more fluid animations to redesigned system spaces, Android has never looked or felt so good, emphasizing usability. 02 of 10 Color Extraction
image credit: Google What We Like A more cohesive UI. Matching colors. Some cool pairings are possible. What We Don't Like No custom color toggle (yet). No advanced themes. You can personalize the wallpaper, lock screen, and minor elements in older versions, but it doesn’t change much about the rest of the interface. Android 12 introduces something called Color Extraction, which will automatically capture dominant colors. When you apply wallpaper, it applies the same colors across the entire OS. The notification shade, volume controls, widgets, lock screen, and menus all change to match the primary color. Set a red wallpaper, and you’ll see red everywhere. How cool is that? Don't worry, you should be able to disable the feature if you don’t want to use it. 03 of 10 Quick Tiles
image credit: Google What We like More visible information. Cleaner visuals. They automatically match system colors. What We Don't Like Bigger tiles means fewer options. No way to resize them. The bright colors can be off-putting. In quick settings, usually, you see round icons. Android 12 will change it up, adding rectangular tiles with rounded edges. Tiles work like icons. A quick tap enables or disables functions, and a long press takes you to the related settings page. However, the tiles are bigger, so they can reveal more information. For icons that only show the title or name, the tiles will include more, like a list of WiFi networks available, nearby Bluetooth devices, and so on. The larger size means you see fewer options in the quick settings panel, only four tiles at a time. You can customize the order and place the most critical tiles first. They also follow color extraction settings. 04 of 10 Privacy and Permissions Upgrades
image credit: Google What We Like More control over permissions. New mic and cam indicators. Privacy dashboard. What We Don't Like More to manage. Quick setting toggles are unnecessary. A new privacy dashboard will give you complete control over what information apps can access, what they can change, and more. You can revoke permissions right from the dashboard if you don’t want shady apps accessing your camera or photos, no problem. New indicators will also appear in the status bar to let you know when apps use your device's microphone or camera. There are new toggles in the quick settings to disable these sensors altogether. Approximate location sharing is now offered to prevent apps from grabbing your exact location or address. There's also more transparency about collected data and how it's being used. 05 of 10 Android Private Compute Core
image credit: Google What We Like It's said to improve privacy. Processes tasks locally (on device). Reduces network usage. What We Don't Like May reduce battery life. Not much insight into how it works. No user controls. Android 12 will be adding something called the Android Private Compute Core. It is a system processing tool that allows more private interactions. All processing for live caption, now playing, and smart reply functions, for example, will now be carried out on the device—no sending information out to the network. In short, it improves the local processing power of devices for privacy and security functions. 06 of 10 New Notifications
image credit: Google What We Like Cleaner visuals. Snappier, faster notifications. More reliable interactions. What We Don't Like Will break some apps. Would be nice to see richer content. The notification system in Android 12 is also getting some upgrades to usability and aesthetics. Animations will be cleaner and faster. Interacting with notifications will be snappier and should be more reliable. Google is doing away with “trampolines.” Trampolines are notifications that take a long time to load the resulting application, even after tapping them. Instead, they will take you to an app in seconds. This change will break some apps, like Pushbullet, which sends notifications that don’t link to anything. 07 of 10 One-Handed Mode
What We Like Easy to activate. Makes one-hand use better. What We Don't Like Not customizable. Only uses half of the screen. Ever have problems trying to navigate your device with one hand? A new one-handed mode in Android 12 aims to be better. It works similar to the one-handed mode in iOS if you’ve ever seen it in action. After turning on the mode in settings, you can enable it by swiping down from anywhere at the bottom of the screen. Content at the top half of the screen will drop down, giving you better access to on-screen elements, like buttons and menus. 08 of 10 Android Runtime
image credit: Google What We Like Easy updates for the system. Everyone gets updates at the same time. Better security and stability. What We Don't Like Not everything can be updated. Not clear how much will change. Generally, system updates are delivered OTA, so you have to wait for your carrier to update and repackage a release. However, Google is now adding Android Runtime as a module to Project Mainline in Android 12. That means you’ll get some OS updates through Google Play packages instead of OTA. This update will significantly impact hotfixes and security patches, which can be pushed directly through the Play Store instead of waiting weeks or months for a traditional OTA update. 09 of 10 Scrolling Screenshots and Markup
image credit: Google What We Like Capture more of the screen. No stitching images. Markup is useful. What We Don't Like May not come with this update. May not work with all apps. Rough around the edges. If you’ve ever had to take several screenshots to capture a conversation thread or stitch multiple images together, you know how frustrating it can be. Android 12 may add scrolling screenshots, allowing you to capture more of the screen real estate in a single image. It's rumored but not confirmed yet. There are also new paintbrush and markup tools so you can add notations, Emojis, stickers, and other doodles to your screenshots. Samsung devices already include this, namely the Note lineup, but it’s nice to see in native Android, too. 10 of 10 New Widgets
image credit: Google What We Like New visual designs to match the UI. New convenient widget selection list. What We Don't Like We don't know how many widgets will be updated. Keeping in line with the visual and experience improvements, Android 12 will also include new system widgets. Some examples are a revamped weather widget to match the new visual enhancements, a conversation widget, and more. The widget selection menu is now a list, so there are more options on the screen at once. There's no official list of all the new widgets being added, even with the Beta available, but they are coming. What Else Is New in Android 12
Alongside the confirmed Android 12 new features are some other rumored changes we may or may not see when the update launches. To list a few: We may get AVIF image support, multi-channel audio with support for up to 24 channels, rich media content through the clipboard, optimizations for large display devices like tablets, and more. How to Access the Android 12 Privacy Dashboard FAQ What is Android 12 called? Unlike most older versions, Android 12 doesn't have an alternate name. Google stopped giving nicknames to each Android version starting with Android 10. What is the Game Dashboard for Android 12? Game Dashboard for Android 12 allows users to record gameplay footage, monitor frames-per-second, and activate Do Not Disturb mode while gaming. Game Dashboard integrates with your Google Play Games account. What are Enhanced Notifications for Android 12? Enhanced Notifications for Android 12 is an improved version of the Adaptive Notifications features introduced in Android 10. To use Enhanced Notifications, go to Settings > Notifications > Enhanced Notifications. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire Android 13: News, Release Date, and Features The 8 Best Android Emulators for Windows 10 and Windows 11 The 10 Best To-Do List Apps of 2022 The 10 Best Reddit Apps for Android in 2022 The Official Android Versions Guide: Everything You Need to Know The Top 10 Personalized Start Pages for Your Web Browser Android 12: Release Date, Rumors, Features, and Supported Devices How to Take a Scrolling Screenshot in Android 12 The 10 Best Android File Managers of 2022 The 8 Best Android Launchers of 2022 The 10 Best S Pen Apps For Galaxy Note The 10 Best Android Productivity Apps of 2022 The 10 Best News Aggregators of 2022 The 11 Best Smartwatch Games of 2022 How to Use Android 12 in One-Handed Mode How to Access the Android 12 Privacy Dashboard Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies