Android is the world's most popular smartphone operating system, running on over three billion smartphones. As a result, even the tiniest of changes in the OS has the potential to affect millions of users. But because of the way Android updates are delivered, it's debatable whether these changes actually make a difference. Despite that, we're always looking forward to the next big Android update in the hope that it brings significant change. Speaking of which, Android 12 is now official in its stable form starting with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. In case you missed our previous coverage, here's every single thing we know about Android 12.
Is Android 12 really called "Snow Cone"?
Android 12 is called...Android 12. Google ditched the dessert-themed names with Android 10. So what we get is just Android 12. Plain, simple, and easy to follow.
With that being said, Google continues to use dessert-themed names in its internal codebase. Android 10 was internally known as Quince Tart, Android 11 was Red Velvet Cake, and we know that Android 12 is internally called Snow Cone.
When did Android 12 release?
Google had shared a broad timeline for the Developer Previews, Beta, and Stable releases of Android 12 earlier. On 4 October 2021, Google officially launched Android 12. However, it was available to install on Pixel phones starting from 19 October, the same day as the Pixel 6 launch. The best way to experience Android 12 currently is via a Pixel device. If you're looking to get a new one, you can take a look at our Pixel 6 Pro review to see what Google has to offer on its flagship phone for 2021.
The Android 12 Developer Preview program ran from February 2021 until the final public release to AOSP and OEMs on 4 October.
Android 12 Developer Preview
Android 12 made its first appearance via the first Developer Preview release, which started rolling out on February 18th, 2021. Google subsequently released a minor patch that addressed several bugs and issues that users had been experiencing while using the first Developer Preview build. Android 12 Developer Preview 2 went live on March 17th, 2021, while Android 12 Developer Preview 3 went live on April 21st, 2021.
As the name implied, the Android 12 Developer Previews allowed developers to begin platform migration and start the adaption process for their apps. Google detailed all of the major platform changes in the previews to inform the entire Android ecosystem of what's coming.
Developer Previews remain largely unstable, and they're not intended for average users. Google also reserves the right to add or remove features at this stage, so don't be surprised if you see a feature in the first Developer Preview missing in the following releases. Developer Previews are also restricted to supported Google Pixel devices.
Android 12 Beta
After a couple of Developer Preview releases, we made our way to Android 12 Beta releases, with the first one on May 18th this year as part of the Google I/O 2021 announcements. These Beta releases were a bit more polished, and they gave us a fair idea of what the final OS release looks like. There were also some minor releases in between Betas, mainly to fix any critical bugs. The second beta arrived on June 9th, the third beta on July 14th, while the fourth beta landed on August 11th.
Alongside supported Google Pixel devices, Android 12 Beta 1 was also made available in the form of a GSI that can be flashed on a much wider range of devices. OEMs have also joined the party, and you can flash Beta 1 on the following phones:
- ASUS ZenFone 8
- iQOO 7 Legend
- OnePlus 9
- OnePlus 9 Pro
- OPPO Find X3 Pro
- Realme GT
- TCL 20 Pro 5G
- Xiaomi Mi 11
- Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
- Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro
- Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro / Mi 11i / Redmi K40 Pro+
The first Beta builds were based off AOSP. OEMs then start migrating their UX skins to the Beta version of Android 12 and subsequently began recruitments for their own "Preview" programs later on. Again, bugs were to be expected in these preview programs, and as such, they were recommended only for developers and advanced users.
We tested out the beta builds of Android 12 for multiple custom UIs from different brands. You can read our first impressions of Realme UI 3.0, ColorOS 12, OxygenOS 12, and One UI 4. We will keep adding to this list as and when more brands release beta versions of the custom skins based on Android 12. If you have a Samsung or OnePlus device, you can also keep a tab on our Samsung Android 12 update tracker and OnePlus Android 12 update tracker to know when new versions of the UI are being rolled out.
Android 12 Beta with Platform Stability
After about three beta releases, Android 12 achieved Platform Stability status, co-existing alongside the Beta status with the release on August 11th. Platform Stability means the Android 12 SDK, NDK APIs, app-facing surfaces, platform behaviors, and even restrictions on non-SDK interfaces have been finalized.
As a result, no further changes happen in how Android 12 behaves or how APIs function in the betas that follow. At this point, developers could start updating their apps to target Android 12 (API Level 31) without being concerned about any unexpected changes breaking their app behavior.
Android 12 Release Candidate
The Android 12 Release Candidate build was available to download on September 8th in the form of Beta 5. This build was as close as possible to the stable build, but not completely the stable build. This build was essentially be aiming to catch any critical problems that had gone undetected so far before the build begins rolling out to consumers.
Android 12 Stable
After the Release Candidate builds, Google rolled out the first Android 12 stable release on October 19th. Google's Pixel devices were the first to get the Android 12 stable release.
For non-Pixel phones, we expect to see wider public betas at this stage. The exact timeline for the same will depend upon your phone and its OEM's plans. A good rule of thumb is that flagships will be prioritized for the update, so if you have a phone that's lower down the price range, you can expect to receive the update a few weeks or months down the line.
Will my device get Android 12?
The answer to the question "will my device get Android 12?" largely depends on which device you have.
Google has officially provided the update to these devices:
These supported Google Pixel devices have got the Android 12 update on day one across the release cycle. The Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro also launched with Android 12 out of the box.
The answer is fairly complicated for unsupported Google Pixel devices and non-Pixel devices. Unsupported Pixels won't get these updates from Google, but they should be in a position to install the GSI right at launch. A non-Pixel device is entirely at the discretion (read: mercy) of the OEM and how it exists within their product lineup. It's logical to presume lighter UX skins like ASUS' Zen UI will be first in line to upgrade their flagships to an Android 12 base. In comparison, heavier UX skins like Samsung's One UI and Xiaomi's MIUI tend to take longer to re-base their skins.
However, this isn't always the case, as lighter UX skins have been equally slow at adoption, if not slower. Thus, predicting the Android 12 update timeline for non-Pixels is very difficult at this stage. You can check some of our update trackers below for more info:
- Samsung Android 12 Tracker: Here are all the official One UI 4.0 stable and beta builds to download and install
- OnePlus Android 12 Tracker: Here are all the official OxygenOS 12 builds to download and install
Android 12 Custom ROMs
If your phone isn't officially supported, or your OEM isn't rolling out the Android 12 update for your smartphone, you can always check if there is an Android 12 custom ROM out there for your device on the XDA forums. Custom ROMs are a great way to experience the latest Android version if an official update isn't available for your smartphone. This generally happens when your phone is slightly older or if it's a mid-range or budget-oriented smartphone that the manufacturer doesn't want to provide extended software support for.
Where do I download Android 12 from?
For supported Google Pixel devices and GSIs, Google provides official packages hosted on their website. You can find the latest download links for Android 12 in our dedicated article.
How to install Android 12
We have installation instructions available for Android 12 for common installation routes such as Recovery, ADB, and Fastboot for the above-mentioned supported Pixel devices, and through GSI for all other unsupported Project Treble devices.
What's new with Android 12?
Go ahead and grab something to eat, a snow cone perhaps, because there are a lot of changes, both big and small, that are coming with Android 12. All Android version bumps bring along major changes. While changes over the past few years have been less radical than the sweeping changes in the early life of Android -- which is a sign of the platform maturing over the years -- Android 12 is an exception. This version of Android is being described as the biggest UX change for the OS since Android 5.0 Lollipop.
We're focusing on all new changes that are coming with every Developer Preview and Beta release, and then highlighting the changes we've seen in leaks and code commits, but not yet seen in live builds.
What's new with Android 12 Beta 1: All the announced features
Android 12 Beta 1 is the latest Android release from Google and is a closer representation of what we can expect to see from the next version of Android as compared to the previous Developer Previews.
Google's official announcement is scant on the exact details, but we've seen far, far too much at this stage. Fun fact -- Google even had an inside joke on XDA's Editor-in-Chief Mishaal Rahman chancing upon a leaked Android 12 build and discovering a lot more than Google had intended to reveal at that time.
Android 12 Beta 1 Hands-on: A Radical Redesign comes to Android
Material You
Material You is one of the biggest changes on Android 12. Leaked in the past as Material NEXT, Material You is the next iteration of Material Design. This design language isn't going to be restricted to Android and will be seen across a wider variety of Google services. But for Android, this forms one of the bigger visual overhauls the OS has seen in several years. There's a lot of focus on color and customization, allowing users to choose their own color swatches, contrast, element sizes, line widths, and more.
This third-party library brings Android 12’s Material You theming to any app
Wallpaper-based UX Theming
Going hand-in-hand with Material You is the new wallpaper-based UX theming engine in Android 12. This feature was leaked previously as "monet", and is a culmination of the years of work on OMS and RRO on the Android platform.
Android 12 now automatically chooses a set of correlative color palettes across the system UI based on the colors used in the phone’s current wallpaper. The colors will apply uniformly across elements such as the lockscreen, quick settings, notifications panel, and even the newly added adaptive widgets.
Google says the color extraction system uses a clustering algorithm with Material color targets to determine the dominant and less dominant colors and then applies hues that match your wallpaper. A rich palette of 5 colors — 2 neutral and 3 accent colors — and 12 shades of Material color can be used to determine the closest hues to the user’s wallpaper. Apps can then grab Android’s system color from an index into the color palette and use it in many different, subtle ways. Widgets can even use the color extraction feature to harmonize with the user’s theme on the home screen.
The feature is not currently readily available to end-users, but you can enable it with some fiddling around as it's present within the build. The feature is readily available with Beta 2, however.
Android 12’s Material You theming system has been recreated by a developer
Privacy Dashboard
Google is refocusing on Privacy with Android 12's Privacy Dashboard and other related changes. The Privacy Dashboard will show you a timeline of when apps access your phone’s camera, microphone, or device location. Android 12 will also include new indicators to show when your phone’s camera or microphone is in use.
This app brings Android 12’s Privacy Dashboard to older phones
For apps that require location data, Android 12 will also offer a new setting that will let you share your approximate location with the app instead of your precise location. This setting will show up within the location permission pop-up you’re probably already familiar with.
Android 12 will include new toggles in the Quick Settings to help you quickly disable camera and microphone access for all apps with a simple tap. These toggles will initially be limited to Pixel devices, but they’ll make their way to other phones soon.
Note these features were a part of the announcement of Beta 1 (and were included in the code and could be enabled with software tricks). They were enabled for the public with Beta 2.
Private Compute Core
Android 12 will also feature a Private Compute Core that will keep your information private for several AI-driven features, like Live Caption, Now Playing, and Smart Reply. The Private Compute Core will be a safe partition within the operating system, similar to the ones used for password and biometric data, for these machine learning features.
Having a separate partition for the data will make it easier for the operating system to keep it safe, while still keeping it available for system-level functions. This means sensitive audio and language processing for the features mentioned above will happen exclusively on your device.
App Hibernation
Android 12 also introduces a new feature called App Hibernation. App hibernation allows you to put apps into a “hibernation” state if they’re not actively being used. Apps that are put into a hibernated status will optimize their storage usage, and their permissions will be revoked.
Apps that aren't used for several months will be put into this “hibernation” state, although users can quickly toggle this feature on and off if they don’t want their unused apps to go into hibernation. To get an app out of hibernation, you just need to run it normally.
Unlock your car from your phone
Google announced it's partnering with several smartphone companies to establish an industry-wide standard that will help you unlock your car using your phone.
One of the ways the car key feature in Android 12 works is through NFC, and you can simply tap your smartphone on the car’s door to unlock it. For phones with UWB, like the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, you'll be able to unlock the car without taking your phone out of your pocket. The feature will also allow users to share these virtual car keys with friends and family members when they borrow the vehicle.
Smoother Audio Transitions
Android 12 will introduce smoother audio transitions between apps. When an app loses audio focus, its audio is automatically faded out, providing a smoother transition between apps that play audio, and preventing apps from playing over each other. This is particularly relevant in foldable and multi-screen Android environments.
Device Performance Class
There are a wide variety of Android devices out there. For app developers, this variety means there's no quick and reliable way to estimate what level of performance a particular device may offer. This means app developers may not be able to tune their app performance to match the expected level of device performance, turning off certain settings for devices that may not be as good of performers as flagships, but may not be entry-level either.
Android 12 introduces "Performance Class" for devices, which is essentially defining a set of capabilities that go beyond Android's baseline requirements. Devices that meet the performance class requirements can support more demanding use-cases and deliver higher quality content. App developers can check what performance class a device is part of at runtime and then tailor the app to deliver an experience that takes full advantage of the device’s performance.
Each version of Android has its own corresponding performance class. The performance class will be defined in the Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) for that particular Android OS version (note: Android 12’s CDD isn’t public yet) and whether or not a device actually meets that performance class is enforced by the Compatibility Test Suite (CTS).
While the concept of a performance class is being introduced with Android 12, Google says it will also define a performance class for Android 11.
Although Google hasn’t shared exact details about what requirements entail in the performance class for Android 12, we did a bit of digging and found some of the requirements. They include:
- At least 6GB of RAM.
- At least 400dpi and 1080p resolution.
- At least 150MB/s sequential write, 250MB/s sequential read, 10MB/s random write, and 40MB/s random read speeds.
- Other requirements for a maximum number of concurrent video decoder and encoder sessions, low codec initialization latency, low amount of playback frame drops, and more.
What's new with Android 12 Beta 1: Unannounced changes
In addition to the main announcement, several other changes have also been spotted. These are either on Beta 1 or are introduced publicly to the platform with Beta 1.
Widgets Overhaul
Google is finally overhauling widgets on Android by reworking the Widgets API to enhance the user experience across different platforms, Android skins, and launchers. We now see a consistent spread of the Google Sans font, flat icons, and cohesive color palettes, all of which together give widgets a more modern look.
Widgets in Android 12 get new dynamic controls allowing you to interact with checkboxes, radio buttons, and switches without entering an app. The widget picker will now also offer responsive previews for widgets of different sizes. The new API also adds support dynamic coloring as part of the Material You theming engine, allowing widgets to adapt to the wallpaper, like other visual elements.
Clipboard Access alerts
Google is introducing a setting in Android 12 to show a popup every time an app accesses your clipboard — even if it’s in the foreground.
AV1 Codec for Video Recording
Google has long recommended the use of the royalty-free AV1 codec for video encoding, but few hardware products support hardware acceleration for encoding in AV1. On the other hand, there’s H.265/HEVC, a video codec that isn’t royalty-free but which most high-end Android devices released in the past few years support encoding in with hardware acceleration.
Compared to H.264/AVC, ie. the video codec that most camera apps on Android smartphones record in by default, Google says that H.265/HEVC can record videos at the same quality but with half the bitrate, resulting in significant file size reductions.
Beginning with Android 12, Google says more OEMs will adopt HEVC as the default format for video capture. By making HEVC the default video capture format, users can reduce how much space video recordings take on local or cloud storage. Furthermore, smaller file sizes will reduce upload times on social media and other platforms where users can upload videos.
Location-free Bluetooth Scanning
Before Android 12, the ability to scan for nearby Bluetooth or Wi-Fi devices was tied to Android’s broader “location” permission. The reason this was the case makes sense. You can definitely track a device by inferring what Bluetooth devices or Wi-Fi networks are nearby or are currently connected to. So even if an app just scans for Bluetooth devices and doesn’t utilize GPS or other tracking technologies, it still needed the same location permissions nonetheless.
Now in Android 12, Google has added new dedicated Bluetooth permissions distinct from the location permissions that apps can request. After being granted these permissions, an app can scan for nearby devices without needing the location permissions. Only apps targeting Android 12 can declare these permissions, however.
Updates from Alternative App Stores
In response to mounting pressure from Epic Games and government regulators, Google had promised to make changes in Android 12 that would make it easier for people to use other app stores on their devices without compromising safety measures.
With Android 12, Google is making it easier for alternative app stores to provide a good experience on devices. Google has updated Android’s PackageInstaller.SessionParams class with a new method called setRequireUserAction. This method indicates whether or not user action should be required before an app install is allowed. It defaults to 'true' for any app that holds the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission, which is required for any app before they can initiate an install session to sideload an app outside of Google Play or whatever preinstalled app store is on the device.
Shortcuts API for Google Assistant
App Shortcuts have been part of Android for a while, allowing users to surface some popular actions when they hold down an app icon. With Android 12, Google is introducing new APIs for Shortcuts that will allow users to find all the Google Assistant queries that are supported with apps. If a developer builds an Android Shortcut, it will automatically show up in the Assistant Shortcuts gallery, so users can choose to set up a personal voice command in your app, when they say "Hey Google, shortcuts". Google is also introducing a new variation of Android shortcuts, called dynamic shortcuts, designed specifically for Google Assistant.
Bluetooth LE Audio API
Android 12 is adding in an API for Bluetooth LE Audio, which is a significant announcement that will greatly enhance the end-user experience when using Bluetooth earphones and other audio devices. While Bluetooth LE Audio’s new LC3 codec won't do much to improve audio quality per se, it will help with improving battery life and signal robustness. This will translate into a better user experience for a large majority of users.
Concurrent Peer-to-Peer and Internet Connection
Starting with Android 12, devices that support concurrent peer-to-peer and Internet connections can maintain both connections. In other words, your phone shouldn’t get disconnected from your home Wi-Fi when setting up a smart home device. This feature will only be enabled for apps targeting API level 31 and higher. Apps targeting earlier versions of Android won't be able to take advantage of the concurrent connection and will be subject to the legacy behavior, meaning your device will be disconnected from your Wi-Fi network before connecting to a peer-to-peer device.
Blocking third-party apps from replacing the share sheet
Android Sharesheet is the menu that pops out from the bottom when you hit the share button within an app, listing out all the possible sharing options. But as you might have noticed, the UI of the Android Sharesheet can look wildly different from app to app. That’s because Google doesn’t enforce UI consistency for the share sheet, allowing third-party apps and OEMs to customize it to their heart’s content.
One of the ways Android users can bypass the Android Sharesheet altogether is by using a third-party app like Sharedr, which offers a more consistent and simpler UI that also does away with Direct Share, which can be quite slow to populate on some devices — despite receiving a significant performance boost in Android 11. But as it appears, using a third-party sharesheet as a replacement for the Android sharesheet won't be as easy in Android 12.
In Android 12, Google no longer allows third-party apps to set themselves as the default share sheet. Google has confirmed this is intended behavior as they never actually intended to allow apps to replace the share dialog.
Splash Screen API
Android 12 introduces automatically generated Splashscreen for every app by default through the Splashscreen API. Developers can further customize this by animating elements of the splash screen. In order to make it easier for developers to make a custom splash screen, Google also released Core Splashscreen Version 1.0.0.
This is a new Jetpack support library that lets developers add a splash screen to their app that’s not only compatible with the new Splash Screen APIs in Android 12 but also backward compatible all the way back to API level 23, or Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
What's new with Android 12 Beta 2: All the announced features
Android 12 Beta 2 was released on June 9th, and the highlight of this release was the privacy and UX features Google had announced in the main event in Google I/O. They're now finally available for users to freely access. This includes features like:
- Privacy Dashboard.
- Microphone and camera toggles and indicators.
- Clipboard read notification.
- Wallpaper-based UX Theming.
- New notification panel design.
- Conversation Widget.
Updated Wi-Fi UX Experience
The second Android 12 beta has added a "simpler and more intuitive connectivity experience across the Status Bar, Quick Settings, and Settings." There’s a new Internet panel that pops up when you long-press on the Internet Quick Setting tile (this tile was previously named 'Wi-Fi' in earlier releases). This panel helps you quickly switch between networks and troubleshoot issues without diving into settings.
