Google has released the stable version of Android 12 for Pixel phones, and select OEMs have already joined in on the hype. If you don’t own a Pixel phone and can’t install the Android 12 beta on your phone, you are probably curious to know what you can expect from Android 12. In this article, we have picked the best new Android 12 features coming to your Android phone.

We have divided this article into two separate sections to highlight features that are currently live and features hidden by default. The live feature list will primarily include user-facing changes in Android 12. We will regularly update this article when new Android 12 beta builds arrive, so make sure you keep an eye out on this one.

  • Wallpaper-based Theming System
  • Privacy Dashboard and Privacy Indicators
  • Improved Notification Shade
  • Redesigned Quick Settings
  • Media Player Revamp
  • One-Handed Mode
  • Scrolling Screenshots
  • Redesigned Power Menu
  • Redesigned Lock Screen
  • Revamped Settings App
  • Game Dashboard
  • Clipboard Access Alerts
  • Improved Widgets Page
  • Conversations Widget
  • New Sparkly Ripple Animation
  • Double Tap Back Gestures
  • Share Wi-Fi Passwords with Nearby Share
  • Splash Screen for Apps
  • Hold for Assistant
  • Live Preview in Recent Apps
  • Face-based Auto-rotation
  • Share Links from Recent Apps Switcher

1. Wallpaper-based Theming System

Google has been working on a wallpaper-based theming system codenamed ‘Monet’ on Android 12. The new theming system changes the accent based on your wallpaper and applies it throughout the interface. The company announced the feature at Google I/O as part of the Material You design.

The feature went live with the second beta of Android 12 and has become fairly reliable. After multiple beta iterations, it does manage to pick the dominant color from the wallpaper and theme the device even on wallpapers with a lot of colors. The feature is initially available on Google Pixel devices and will roll out to other OEM devices throughout the year.

Google is making it easier for users to keep track of apps that accessed permissions, including camera, microphone, location, and more. With Android 12, the company is adding a “Privacy Dashboard” that shows all the apps that have accessed your data, recently along with timestamps. It’s now live in Android 12 beta, as you can see below:

As is the case with all Android updates, Google has made major improvements to the notifications shade on Android 12. And well, it’s safe to say that a lot has changed since the developer preview builds. Google has started implementing its Material You design language, and it has taken shape with the second beta. It primarily changes the look and feel of the notification shade and quick settings panel.

In what seems like an oversimplification, Google has combined “Wi-Fi” and “Mobile data” toggles to a single “Internet” toggle. And we have good news and bad news about this new toggle.

The Quick Settings panel is where you will notice a key radical design overhaul on Android 12. Android has done away with the usual compact QS toggle and has introduced rather chunky toggles with text. While the new toggles might look a little (a lot) bigger than the current ones, you get more toggles on one page.

To recall, Android 11 infamously reduced the number of rows on the QS page from three to two, which resulted in having just 6 buttons instead of 9 at the top. You now get a total of 8 buttons comprising of 4 rows with two buttons on each column. And I’ve not included the light version of QS because turning system-wide dark mode off doesn’t seem to affect QS background in the new beta. This is likely a bug and should get fixed in the next update.

The persistent media player has received a major facelift with Android 12. The album artwork gets more emphasis, and the overall size of media controls is now bigger than before. The latest beta brings back the device name in the media player UI and pressing it opens a pop-up to help you quickly pair a Bluetooth headphone.

One-handed mode is finally here on Android 12. Google first added the feature in the second developer preview. The feature resembles Apple iOS 14’s reachability that displays content only on the bottom half of your screen. You can enable one-handed mode on Android 12 from Settings -> System -> Gestures -> One-handed mode.

Once enabled, swipe down from the bottom portion of the display to activate the feature. Similarly, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen or tap on the unused area to switch back to the standard view. There’s also an option to disable the one-hand mode feature when switching between apps. Check out the Android 12 one-handed mode in action right here:

Google has finally added official support scrolling screenshots on Android and the feature is live as of the third Android 12 beta. This way, you can finally stop relying on one of those scrolling screenshot apps on Android to take long screenshots.

To capture a scrolling screenshot on Android 12, trigger a screenshot as you usually would and tap the “Capture more” button to extend the screenshot. Pick the portion of screen content and tap on “Save” to save the screenshot. You can check out a detailed guide on using the scrolling screenshot feature in Android 12 via the linked article.

Moving away from Android 11’s power menu that also served as a home for smart home controls, Google has added a basic power menu with the second beta of Android 12. You get an Emergency button, Power off button, and Restart button in this new power menu.

You might have seen the new Android 12 lock screen at Google I/O 2021 last month, and it is available by default in beta builds. When you don’t have any pending notifications, you get a huge clock as the lock screen alongside a tiny date indicator:

Another minor yet noticeable change is a new look for PIN and pattern input UI on the lock screen. The emergency call button is more prominent and matches the system accent now. Those who use pattern locks will notice that the trail while drawing the pattern is thicker in Android 12.

Google has embraced the OneUI-esque design for the Settings app that’s better suited for one-hand usage. The Settings app now respects the wallpaper-based theming system and changes background color accordingly. In addition, you also get toggles with pill-shaped state indicators across some components in Settings. With the third beta of Android 12, Google has removed colorful icons in the Settings app.

11. Game Dashboard

Google announced Game Dashboard at its Google for Games summit and has added the feature on Android 12. Using Game Dashboard, you can record the screen, go live and stream gameplay on YouTube, take screenshots, and view the FPS of the current game using the in-game overlay. The feature will first come to Samsung phones, with more phones expected later. To learn more, check our guide on how to use Game Dashboard in Android 12.

12. Clipboard Access Alerts

Much like iOS 14’s clipboard access alert, Google has added a toast notification to notify you whenever an app accesses your clipboard. This feature is live with Android 12 beta 2, and developers are expected to minimize app reads from the clipboard. Apps should access the clipboard only when necessary.

Google has long ignored the existence of widgets on Android. However, with iOS 14 gaining widget support, the company is trying to improve the widget experience on Android 12. With Android 12, you get a new widget picker UI. Notably, the new UI is compact and shows the number of widgets offered by an app. You can even search for widgets from the top search bar.

14. Conversations Widget

Google continues working on the conversation/ people space widget seen in the leaked Android 12 document. Using these widgets, you can track recent messages, missed calls, and activity statuses for contacts you choose. Here’s how the widget looks like as of the second Android 12 beta, courtesy of 9to5Google:

One feature new with the first Android 12 beta is a cool sparkly ripple effect animation that appears when you tap on different menus and toggles. There’s no customization for the sparkly ripple effect yet, but it will be enabled by default across the UI. With the second beta, Google has toned down the ripple effect. You can check out the feature in action below:

16. Double Tap Back Gestures

Google has added double tap back gestures with Android 12, at least on Pixel 5. If you are using a Pixel 5, you can access the feature from “Settings -> System -> Gestures -> Quick Tap.”

With Android 12, Google is improving the ability to share Wi-Fi passwords with other Android devices. Going forward, you can use Nearby Share to share Wi-Fi passwords. The option to share passwords via Nearby Share appears on the QR code generation page, which you can access by tapping the Share button of a Wi-Fi connection in Settings.

Introduced with the third developer preview, Android 12 shows a splash screen for all apps in an attempt to improve the overall consistency throughout the operating system. This is a neat touch and a subtle UX improvement to make the OS feel more fluid.

Google has added a toggle that lets you trigger the Assistant by holding the power button. While you had no way to access the power menu after enabling this feature in the first beta build, Google has added a power menu toggle in the Quick Settings panel as a workaround. If you enable Hold For Assistant, you’ll have to rely on that button to switch off or restart your phone.

In a subtle yet noticeable change, Android has stopped showing a static version of the app in the recent apps switcher. Starting with Android 12 beta 2, you get a live preview of the app in the recent apps screen, and it does look cool. For example, here’s a YouTube video that continues to play while we are on the recent apps page:

21. Face-based Auto-rotation

The Android 12 feature I’m personally excited about is face-based auto-rotation. It utilizes the front camera to detect when you are looking at the screen and adjusts the screen orientation accordingly. It would come in handy when using your phone in bed, hopefully eliminating unwanted auto-rotations to landscape mode. Those can be pretty annoying.

Google has added a nifty feature that lets users copy and share links right from the recent apps switcher. You will see a Share button on supported apps, which on tapping, reveals the link of the website or video that you can copy and share.