Android 12 is now officially available in AOSP form, but it will take a bit longer for it to hit phones. This is everything that the latest version of Android has to offer

These are the most important tools of the Android 12 operating system

BySara Piquer Martí, PCWorld Editor

Google updates its Android operating system every year, introducing new features and designs that keep the software in good shape. In this case, the new version for 2021 is Android 12.

Upon release, Android 12 brings an entirely new design language and a host of new privacy features (among other improvements) to the ecosystem of Google devices.

Here's everything you need to know about Android 12, from what it does to how to get it.

When can I install Android 12?

The latest version of Android is usually first seen in developer previews in March, then unveiled publicly at Google I/O in May , public betas are released soon after, and the final, full version of the software arrives sometime in the fall.

The first developer preview of Android 12 was released on February 18, giving developers their first chance to test the update (the second preview was released on March 17 and the third on April 21), before Google officially revealed the new OS at I/O on May 18, releasing its first public beta at the same time (the second public beta was released on June 9).

In recent years, Android has adopted this pattern as follows:

Android 9 Pie

Android 10

Android 11

Android 12

Although we were supposed to get to know Android 12 in its final form alongside the launch of the long-heralded Pixel 6 this year, Google has played things very differently by releasing Android 12 source to AOSP (Android Open Source Project) on October 4, before rolling out the update to any smartphone.

In his release post, Google VP of engineering Dave Burke told expectant Android users to "keep an eye out for Android 12 coming to a device near you, starting with the Pixel in the coming weeks." and Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo and Xiaomi devices later this year."

What's New in Android 12

Burke's announcement about Android 12 also included some details about the Android 12 beta versions, with some 225,000 developers and fans testing the beta on their smartphones, contributing about 50,000 problem reports in the process (which should lead to a better and more polished version for everyone).

Which smartphones will have Android 12?

This can be tricky. Android continues to suffer from terrible fragmentation with some phones getting new software outright, others weeks or months later, while a good chunk won't get it at all.

If you want to guarantee your move to the next version of Android, you'll need to buy one of Google's Pixel devices, like the Pixel 5, Pixel 4a, or Pixel 4a 5G, all of which receive preferential treatment because they Google knows the exact composition of each phone's hardware and software configuration.

You should also be able to expect fast upgrade(s) to the new OS from any of the brands whose devices are listed below, all of which are included in this year's Android 12 beta program:

Any phones on the Android One platform, like many handsets from Motorola and Nokia, also get new versions quickly, though only for two years after launch.

What's New in Android 12?

One of the main areas of excitement for any new version of Android is, of course, what new features Google will introduce.

These are all the confirmed features so far for the new operating system as of Google's official announcement and three developer previews:

Material You

The biggest change so far is what Android will look like in the future: Material You.

This is what Google calls the new design language that runs on Android 12 on its Pixel phones, and will roll out to other Google devices over time.

The operating system is much more colorful, with customizable color palettes that extend throughout the phone, from the lock screen to the apps themselves.

You can set these five color palettes yourself, or let the phone create one for you by dynamically picking colors from your phone's wallpaper.

Google says that when Material You launches on Pixel phones this fall, custom palettes will work across all Google apps, and eventually third-party apps will be able to take advantage of them as well.

Icons and interfaces have been rounded all over, with circles, squirrels, and doodles appearing everywhere.

This new design will be exclusive to the Pixels at first, and it's hard to know how much of the design will seep into Android skins used by Samsung, Xiaomi, and other manufacturers.

Faster movement and animations

The interface is also more dynamic and responsive. If you turn the screen on with the power button, the light comes off the button, while if you don't have notifications, the lock screen clock will expand to fill the space.

All of this will be smoother and faster too, thanks to under-the-hood improvements that have reduced the CPU time needed for core system services by up to 22%, and reduced the use of large server cores of the system by up to 15%.

New privacy features

Beyond design, the biggest set of changes in Android 12 has to do with privacy and security.

First up is a new Privacy Dashboard, intended to be a one-stop-shop for all your data privacy, letting you know what data has been accessed, when and by which apps, with the option to revoke app permissions right there too.

New microphone and camera icons will indicate when an app is using either, so you won't be caught off guard.

If you want to be even more careful, there are new quick settings to completely block access to the camera and/or microphone from all apps at once to ensure privacy.

There's also a new "approximate location" permission, so you can give more vague location data to apps that don't need to know exactly where you are, like your weather app.

New way to access the Google Assistant

Google has added another way to access the Google Assistant: a long press on the power button.

Since this is already used in all sorts of ways by different phones, expect this to just become another of several options for this button shortcut.

Quick Settings

Going back to Quick Settings, the menu has been redesigned as part of a broader tweak to the notification tray.

Most interestingly, there are new Quick Settings options to access Google Home device settings and Google Pay.

Integration with ChromeOS

Google is also looking to expand its ecosystem of devices, so Android 12 will have deeper integration with Chromebooks and other ChromeOS devices.

A single tap on the phone will be able to unlock a nearby Chromebook, while you'll also get all chat notifications there on ChromeOS, and be able to access phone photos on the laptop.

Android TV Remote Control

Android 12 will also tie more closely with Android TV.

Phones running Android 12 will be able to function as a remote control for all Android TV devices, allowing you to use the phone's microphone to perform voice searches or type using the phone's keyboard.

Digital car key

Google is also the latest company to work on using the phone as a car key.

Using a combination of NFC and ultra-broadband technology, you can use your phone as a secure key to lock, unlock or start your compatible car, and you can even share keys securely with friends or family.

Since it relies on ultra-broadband, the digital car key will be limited to phones with that hardware; in this case, "select Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones," likely including the Galaxy S21 Ultra, so far the only Samsung phone with a UWB chip.

Scrolling Screenshots

For a while it looked like this simple tool was going to appear in Android 11, as companies like OnePlus, Huawei, and Samsung already have the feature in their versions of the operating system.

But it didn't come in time, so we're glad it's in the next OS version when you see the ability to capture images that span the entire page of a site or app, and not just what you see on the page. screen.

'Conversations' Widget

Another addition is the 'Conversations' widget, which will consolidate missed calls, status updates from various social platforms and messages from various platforms (including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp) for a single contact (or potentially a small group of contacts).

System-wide camera improvements

Android doesn't natively support quad or non-row sensors (like on the Samsung Galaxy S21 series), so it's now being rolled out to Android native support for such hardware in all applications, which should translate into better image quality between different applications that use the camera.

Cameras will also benefit from manufacturer-custom shooting effects (like HDR, bokeh, etc.) in more apps outside of the phone's camera app, thanks to changes to the way Android handles its CameraX library and Camera2 API extensions.

Rich Content Insertion

The ability to copy and paste richer content bodies (such as images, videos, and audio) using a new API that accepts content from multiple sources: clipboard, keyboard, or drag and drop. release, to move it between applications.

Audio effects coupled with haptic technology

Haptic feedback (precise vibrations) is governed by audio files, which can be used to control the strength and frequency of vibrations to create more immersive experiences .

Samples provided by Dave Burke, Android Vice President of Engineering, include a video calling app that uses custom ringtones to identify the caller through haptic feedback or simulates the sensation of rough terrain in a racing game.

Immersive Mode improvements for gesture navigation

Immersive Mode is effectively a full screen mode, in which the notification bar and on-screen navigation buttons are temporarily hidden while a application occupies the entire screen.

In Android 12, other than gaming, all other immersive/full screen apps/experiences (such as video playback, reading, photo galleries, etc.) will be easier to quit with a simple glide; in an effort to better accommodate Android's previous move towards gesture navigation over button navigation, by default.

More Android updates via Google Play

As a continuation of Project Mainline, Android 12 will allow various Android components to be updated via Google Play in the future, without the need for full Android updates. OS.

Optimization for tablets, foldables and TVs

Android on tablets is notorious for its incompatibilities and UI issues resulting from poor app optimization. The new tools should help developers build better Android 12-based experiences for tablets, foldables, and TVs, and includes a new Android 12 TV preview that's playable too.

Smoother PIP (Picture-in-Picture)

Currently, PIP-enabled apps typically take a second to appear on the home screen (or on supported screens outside of the app driving the experience PIP), especially if you use gesture navigation (rather than physical or on-screen buttons) to navigate your device.

As part of Developer Preview 2, Google has made the transition much smoother, so the Twitch stream you're watching now should seamlessly shrink to the corner of your screen as you swipe up to exit. the app, back to your home screen.

Improvements to pairing and wearable connectivity

Android 12 should help improve the responsiveness of connected devices such as wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, especially those with its renewed Wear OS. The device will better know when its watch is in or out of range/off so it knows it can pass data to and from said connected device.

The pairing process and the permissions associated with it will also be streamlined into a single grant.

App splash screens

When you open an app, a splash screen will now appear, better hiding the loading process and making the experience more polished every time you tap an icon. While there is a preset method for displaying home screens, developers have the ability to customize them, from color to whether they follow the device's dark mode settings, and can even include an animation.

Redesigned Call Notifications

Dialer or chat applications will now benefit from improved call notifications, with custom UI features and greater visibility over standard notifications, moving from at the top of the notification stack when they occur.

Faster access to web links

Users will be able to open web links from apps much faster, since the links will open in their device's default browser, instead of having to indicate one preference at a time.

Supported Media Transcoding

Although more and more devices are encoding video in HEVC (which offers superior compression and lower quality loss compared to older codecs), compatibility it's still a problem. Despite this, Android 12 will automatically transcode HEVC files to the more compatible AVC format for applications where HEVC is not yet supported.

AVIF Image Support

As for images, in a similar vein to the above, the AV1 (AVIF) image file format is being adopted by Android as a newer container for images. efficient that offers higher quality and more efficient compression compared to standards like JPEG.

Unconfirmed features of Android 12

Although the public beta is already underway, some features of Android 12 are still up in the air, but have been revealed in rumors and leaks. These are some of the features that could appear in the new operating system:

Better compatibility with third-party stores

There are a number of app stores available in addition to the Google Play Store. For example, there is Samsung's Galaxy Store and Huawei's App Gallery, as well as other variants that usually come pre-installed in some terminals.

For Android 12, Google has stated that it will open up how they are available to users, with a spokesperson telling 9to5Google "we are going to make changes to Android 12 (next year's version of Android) to make it even more easy for people to use other app stores on their devices, being careful not to compromise the security measures Android has in place. We're designing all of this now and hope to share more in the future."

One-Handed Mode

Like scrolling screenshots, One-Handed Mode is another feature that's already widely available on Android phones, but doesn't yet have an official version of it. Google.

XDA Developers reports that a one-handed mode is on the way to Android 12, which will make the feature available to all phone manufacturers - though that doesn't necessarily mean every OEM will include it on their phones.

Few details of the mode are known, but it's supposed to be similar to existing third-party versions, which create a shrunken version of the full screen in one corner - Google's version is known to shrink the screen to 40% of the screen. its size-. It will also be accessible via gesture controls or the three-button navigation system.

A single native media player

Android is a system with many options, that's what we like about it, but it also means that there can be a confusing number of approaches and applications when it comes to things like media playback. In the Reddit AMA, Google engineers hinted that a single, unified player might appear soon.

We recognize the confusion resulting from having multiple playback options with different APIs and capabilities. We have started working on converging them into a single solution based on ExoPlayer. The converged player will be fully featured and easy to use, and we will share more information with the developer community as it progresses.

Wi-Fi Sharing

Enthusiastic developers and hobbyists often find potential new Android features in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which often hides the code for features being developed by developers. Google engineers, although it does not confirm that they will end up being officially included in the next version of the operating system.

This is the case of Nearby Wi-Fi Sharing, discovered in a presentation to AOSP by Google engineer Abel Tesfaye. It is basically a way to simplify the process of adding new devices to your Wi-Fi network by sharing network access data. Since Android 10 it's been possible to do this by sharing a QR code, but Tesfaye's presentation would automate this process a bit more and send the password via Android's Nearby Share feature.

Restricted Network Mode

This is another unearthed feature of AOSP. It appears to be a setting that, when enabled, restricts the network to only apps with a specific top-level permission - which will in effect limit network access to only system apps by default, and none the user has. installed.

We hope this will be coupled with a customizable permissions list that lets you specify which apps are allowed to use the network, but even if they don't, this could still be a useful new network safe mode.

Double-tap gesture back

9to5Google claims to have seen information suggesting the return of the double-tap gesture, available in Android 11 beta versions, last year. When enabled, users can double tap one finger on the back of their device to activate the Google Assistant, take a screenshot, play or pause media, open the notification shade, or open the app view recent.

This feature, codenamed "Columbus" (after the Zombieland character), was expected to appear in the public version of Android 11, but was pulled before release, so news of its revival in the Android 12 beta suggests that it could stick around this time.

In its Android 11 beta version, it is believed that Columbus was too responsive and that the Android 12 iteration will require much more firm and deliberate touches to work. It remains to be seen if the gesture is guaranteed to see the light of day and if it is intended to be an exclusive feature of the Google Pixel.

Native support for WireGuard VPN

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are becoming more and more the norm in these times of digital surveillance that we live in. So it's good news that the new and fast WireGuard encryption protocol seems to have native support in the new version of Android.

App pairs

This is a new split-screen multitasking feature that will allow you to save shortcuts to specific pairs of apps to open together. First reported by 9to5Google, app pairs are another feature that can already be found on some Android phones, but Google is building an official implementation.

Smart Auto-Rotate

This is a welcome new feature: Google is reportedly adding some artificial intelligence to Android's auto-rotate, in an update that should have hit a patch by now. function that currently only relies on the phone's gyroscope and accelerometer.

9to5Google reports that the feature will use the phone's selfie camera to detect which way your face is in relation to the phone and turn - or not - accordingly. However, the site warns that it may be a Pixel-only feature, rather than open to all Android devices.

User access to Android's hidden trash

A sort of recycle bin has existed in Google's mobile operating system since Android 11; designed to temporarily hold application files so that an application has a window of time to request their recovery on behalf of the user. For now, this temporary holding zone is hidden from end users.

XDA Developers has discovered hints that an option may soon appear in the Storage subsection of Android's Settings menu, allowing users to manually empty this trash to free up space on the device.

This parallels indications that an upcoming update to the Files by Google app will allow users to delete and restore files from within the app.

At the moment it is not clear if the restore option will also be present in the updated storage settings of Android 12.

Automatic app UI translation

Another discovery after XDA Developers got their hands on an unreleased build of Android 12 (i.e. not a developer preview), it discovered references in the framework code that allude to a new native translation service that would be used to translate inline text within applications from one language to another.

This would allow a developer's app to reach a much broader audience without having to pay for or hire translation services for non-native language versions of the app.

What dessert or sweet is named after Android 12?

Unfortunately, Google has long since abandoned the official dessert names for Android versions, but the company continues to use those names internally: Android 11 was unofficially known as Red Velvet Cake, for example.

Android 12 is "S", which XDA Developers claims stands for "Snow Cone".

Until Android 12 arrives, be sure to check out our in-depth Android 11 review to get the most out of Google's current version of software, plus our guide to the best Android phones if you want to make sure Android 12 is up to date. be in your hands very soon.