Android 12: Beta 5 Released with a Series of New Features

At Google I/O 2021, Google announced Android 12, a major update coming later this year. Google also introduced a brand new design language called Material You in this "overhaul".

Android 12 brings the biggest design change in the history of Android. Google rethought the entire experience, from colors to shapes, lighting, and motion. The result is an Android 12 that's more intuitive, dynamic, and personalized than ever.

Here's a list of the new features coming to Android 12, as well as the devices that can update to Android 12 right away.

Personalization

Starting with Android 12 on Pixel devices, you’ll be able to fully personalize your phone with custom color palettes and redesigned widgets. With what Google calls color extraction, you change your wallpaper and the system automatically determines which colors are dominant, which colors complement each other, and which colors look great. It then applies those colors throughout the OS: notification bubbles, the lock screen, volume controls, new widgets, and more.

This work is being done in close collaboration between Google's software, hardware, and Material Design teams. Google is unifying its software and hardware ecosystems under a single design language called Material You.

Smooth motion and effects

According to Google, the moment you pick up a device running Android 12, you'll feel how realistic every touch, swipe, and scroll on the screen is.

The phone responds quickly to your touch with smooth animations and effects. For example, when you dismiss a notification on the lock screen, the clock appears larger to let you know you've got it all.

Redesigned system space

Some of the most important spaces on your phone—like the notification shade, quick settings, and even the power button—have been intentionally reshaped to help you get things done better.

Notification bubbles are more intuitive and playful, with a quick, crisp view of your app notifications, anything you’re currently listening to or watching, and Quick Settings that give you control over practically the entire operating system with a swipe and tap. Quick Settings not only has a new look, but has also been redesigned to include Google Pay and Home Controls, while still allowing for customization so you can have everything you need most in one easy-to-reach place.

Another very convenient change is that you can press the power button for a while to call Google Assistant, ask it to make calls, open apps, ask questions, and read aloud articles on websites.

New privacy features

Android 12 takes user privacy and security more seriously with the new Privacy Dashboard feature. Privacy Dashboard helps you see which apps are accessing your data, and lets you choose what information apps are allowed to access. You can also easily revoke permissions granted to apps in Privacy Dashboard.

Google has added an indicator to the top right of the status bar, near the battery icon and signal strength bar, to let you know when an app is accessing your phone's mic or camera. This alert is visible directly without having to open the notification bar.

And if you want to revoke mic and camera access of these applications, just turn them off in Quick Settings.

Google has added a new permission, tentatively called approximate location, that limits apps to seeing only your approximate location, rather than your exact location. For example, a weather app doesn't need to know your exact location to give an accurate forecast.

Android Private Compute Core

Android Private Compute Core (APCC) is what Google calls “building privacy protections directly into the operating system.” It allows Google to introduce new technologies that are private by design, keeping your information safe, private, and stored on your phone.

APCC enables features like Live Caption, Now Playing, and Smart Reply. All audio and language processing happens on the device, isolated from the network to protect your privacy.

The protections in APCC are open source and fully auditable and verifiable by the security community.

Unlock car by phone

Google says it's working with automakers to build digital keys right into Android 12. The feature promises to be able to lock, unlock, and even start your car from your phone.

Using Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology , users don’t even need to take their phone out of their pocket to unlock their car. If the car supports NFC , all you have to do is tap your phone on the car door to unlock it. Since it’s an electronic key, you can also share your car keys securely and remotely with friends and family if you lend them your car.

Other confirmed new features

One-handed mode

Phones are getting bigger and bigger, which means using them with one hand is getting harder and harder. So maybe one-handed use will be available in Android 12.

Share Wifi password via Nearby Share

In addition to the ability to share a wifi password via QR, in Android 12, you can simply tap the “Nearby” button below the QR code in the image above. This will transmit the Wi-Fi login information to anyone you like, using Android’s Nearby Share feature.

Thanks to that, you can share wifi password with many people without having to give them your phone to scan.

Widget changes

There are many new widgets in development, including the weather widget in this image. Also, when you add widgets to your screen, you will see multiple widget categories at once, making it easy to add and find your favorite widgets.

Update Android 12 via Google Play

Android Runtime (ART) will be added to Project Mainline, Google Play's system update program. This will allow the company to push critical updates to ART and other essential Android 12 services through Google Play. Google also notes that more module updates will be pushed through Project Mainline in the near future.

There are also some sources mentioning gaming mode, picture-in-picture improvements... but we don't have much information or images about them on Android 12.

List of devices updated to Android 12 today

Here are the devices that will be able to get Android 12 today:

• Google Pixel 3, Pixel 4, Pixel 5 (including XL and A-series)
• OnePlus 9/9 Pro
• Nokia X20
• Xiaomi Mi 11/11 Ultra, Xiaomi Mi 11i*/11X Pro
• ASUS Zenfone 8
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
• Sharp Aquos R6
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra (China models)
• TCL 20 Pro 5G
• Tecno Camon 17
• Realme GT
• iQOO / Vivo 7 Legend

New features of Android 12 beta 5

Google has just released Andorid 12 beta 5 with a series of new features. This will be the last major beta version of Android 12 before Google officially launches it to users.

Here is a list of new features in Android 12 beta 5:

Nearby Share lets you make your device visible to everyone (Everyone)

This is a new addition that makes it easy to share files with users around you.

Pixel smartphones will warn users when charging is limited to avoid overheating

Google Calculator app updated with Material Design language

The Lockdown option is displayed by default in the Power menu.

You cannot disable the Lockdown option in settings

Android 12 Easter eggs get their own widgets

Adjust lock screen

• The date/month will be placed in the upper right corner of the screen instead of next to the clock.
• Notifications will appear below, further away from the clock.

Desktop shortcut for smart home Device controls

The Device controls icon has also been changed from a light bulb to a house.

Add search feature on device

Accessible from above the app drawer

At a Glance Design Changes

Google Clock 7.0 has been redesigned according to Material You language and has its own widget.

September Security Update

Along with new features, Android 12 beta 5 also brings the latest security updates.

New features of Android 12 beta 4

Android 12 beta 4 is officially rolling out today. This is the official “platform stable” release. That means not much will change from here on out, and the OS is almost ready for global release. Here are some of the innovations coming in Android 12 beta 4

Home controls renamed to Device controls

Wifi on/off button returns in Internet section

You can turn off Wifi using the on/off button in the Internet section that automatically appears. This method does not help you do it faster but it is more clearly displayed and intuitive than before.

Themed icons are labeled “beta”

This is another very small change. Due to the lack of third-party icons, the Themed icon option is now labeled beta. Themed icons will better follow the system color scheme, with Google Tasks being the icon that gets the redesign.

Change Settings page

In the Android 12 Beta, the Settings page has received a pretty big makeover, but it's clearly still early days. Almost all pages in Settings are well-suited to Dynamic Color system colors, with page-wide changes to icons, image previews, and toggles.

The rounded corners are more prominent to match the rest of Android 12. For example, when users turn on dark mode, it will be easier to read.

Improved crop tool when resizing images

To help users crop and refine their selections better when using the tool, Android 12 Beta 4 has much more prominent and color-matching guidelines for greater precision. The crop frame is centered so users can more easily spot, crop, and move around.

In previous versions, the crop tool was sometimes placed in a corner which made it difficult to grasp. So these changes should make it easier to detect the outline and move/adjust to the appropriate shape and size.

Call indicator chip on status bar

While this isn't technically a result of the Android 12 Beta 4 update, when you make a call using the Google Phone app, along with the new microphone access indicator, you'll see the call duration displayed in the status bar. Tapping it will take you back to the call screen.

This is a useful addition that makes it easy to leave the call screen and use other apps at the same time.

Google Search Widget Redesigned with Material You

This change is tied to the widespread rollout of Themed icons. If you enable this setting, you'll see a noticeable difference, with the colors being tweaked to match the system's theme.

Game Dashboard is fully usable while playing games thanks to the quick toggle feature

The Game Dashboard is fully usable while gaming, thanks to its quick toggle feature, which gives you direct access to YouTube livestreams, do not disturb mode, screen recording, screenshots, and even an FPS counter.

Share photos quickly

Building on the existing copy URL option in Android 12 Beta 4, you’ll see Recents recognize images. Tap on an image to zoom in or perform other actions using the Lens, Copy, Share, and Save shortcuts. This toolbar already existed in Android 11, but Google is now making it more visible to end users.

You can tap on the person you want to share with or drag the image to the icon of the person you want to share with to share nearby images or anything in a super fast way.

New features of Android 12 beta 3

Since Google announced Android 12 at its I/O conference, the company has released two betas, with the second beta featuring a splash of color that was shown during the conference. Today, the company is rolling out Android 12 beta 3, which brings with it a number of new features like Scrolling screenshots, improved auto-rotation, and a few other notable ones.

Scrolling screenshots

The first major feature coming to beta 3 is Scrolling screenshots. This is a feature that many Android users have long requested on phones like the Google Pixel 5, while many other high-end Android phones already have it.

When taking a screenshot, users will see a Capture more button to capture the entire page, which can then be cropped to get just what they need.

Auto rotate better and faster

Another notable improvement in Android 12 beta 3 is improvements to auto-rotate. This feature supports face recognition, which means the phone will know how to determine which direction you're trying to hold the phone (instead of relying solely on the accelerometer), allowing auto-rotate to be more reliable.

According to Google, this will improve the experience “for people who are using their device while lying down on a couch or in bed. That means you can be lying on your side in bed with your phone in landscape mode, but since the camera can recognize that your face is also horizontal, it will be in portrait mode.” The feature uses a new Private Compute Core so that images are only displayed on the device and never sent to Google.

Thanks to facial recognition and additional optimizations from Google, auto-rotate will be at least 25% faster than before. The feature will be available on Google smartphones, starting with the Pixel 4.

Other features

Other features for beta 3 include enterprise admin access to the camera and microphone. Using the API, developers can adjust the placement of privacy indicators, as well as help users find content results from within their app or on their device.

Beta 3 also includes improvements to gaming, thanks to GameMode APIs that help balance device performance. Users can play games while loading other games.

• Can play games before they're finished downloading on Android 12

Android 12 beta 3 is now available on select Pixel phones and can be installed via an OTA update. Several other OEMs are participating in the beta program, but availability of this latest version may vary.

The next version — beta 4 — will bring Android 12 to platform stability. At this point, developers won't have to worry about additional platform changes that could impact their apps. This will be available in August, ahead of the official release of Android 12 later.

New features of Android 12 beta 2

Color extraction feature

The ability to automatically extract the main color from the wallpaper to set for the entire system is one of the impressive new features of Android 12. However, it is not until Android 12 beta 2 that users can enjoy this new feature.

However, it is still not fully functional as the demo. Specifically, users are not allowed to manually choose colors for the system.

Privacy Information Sheet

With the Privacy Dashboard update, users can control the privacy status on their phones. Just open the Privacy Dashboard and you will have all the information related to the application's access, location data, camera, microphone...

Other privacy and security features

The ability to show indicators when an app is accessing the camera and microphone has also been updated in Android 12 beta 2. Along with that, you can disable the camera and microphone so that no app can access it. Finally, the system will notify you when an app is accessing content stored in the clipboard.

Changes in connectivity

Android 12 beta 2 gives you a new way to interact with your connections. In Android 11, long-pressing the WiFi Quick Tile would take you to the network settings section of the Settings app. But now, Android 12 beta 2 gives you a convenient pop-up with buttons and links.

New features and bug fixes in Android 12 beta 2.1

While iOS 15 beta is still stuck at version 1.0, Android 12 beta has released version 2.1 with the following adjustments and fixes:

Bugs fixed in Android 12 beta 2.1

• Fixes a bug that prevented users from performing actions from the lock screen such as swiping down to view notifications, swiping to clear notifications, or swiping up to unlock
• Fixes an issue that caused information like weather and calendar events to not appear on the At a Glance widget on the home screen or lock screen
• Fixes an issue that caused flickering or unstable animations when accessing recently opened apps with gestures
• Fixed an issue that caused the camera and microphone on indicator to get stuck and disappear until the device was restarted
• Addresses an issue where using the Android Emulator with an Android Virtual Device (AVD) running Android 12 causes the AVD device to lose internet connectivity.
• Fixed an issue that caused users to get stuck on the Android Beta 12 setup screen.

What do you think about the changes in Android 12, which feature are you most excited about?