Google Rolls Out Android 12 Featuring Material You, Scrolling Screenshots, And Other Major Changes

After years of waiting, Google finally rolled out an update to the Android operating system. The Android 12 is loaded with big changes and features such as Material You, rolling screenshots, and more. But the Android 12 update is not available on Pixel devices at the moment.

One of the major changes in Android 12, launched Monday, is Material You, the latest version of Google’s Material design language. It aims to create designs that are personal for every style, accessible for every need, alive and adaptive for every screen, XDA Developers reported.

With Android 12, Material You takes full advantage of the rich palette of pastel colors in monet, a theme engine Google created during the time of the next operating system’s creation. With the feature, users may choose to give their UI a completely overhauled look, the report said.

The Android 12 launch also brings the highly anticipated and requested functionality to fulfillment -- scrolling screenshots. The scrolling screenshot is a feature that allows a user to grab a screen view that spans down an entire page.

With scrolling screenshots, users no longer need to take and combine multiple screenshots as they manage to get the whole page they are scrolling in one shot.

The major OS update also introduces indicators that will appear on top of the screen when the camera and microphone are on. There are also quick setting tiles that users can add for easier access to the on and off functions of the mic and the camera, The Verge reported.

With Android 12, Google seemingly makes reachability another factor on its priority list. The one-handed mode, a feature seen in iPhones through iOS updates, now comes to Android devices. Users only need to activate the one-hand feature in the gestures menu and be able to choose and pull things within the reach of the thumb.

Another notable feature is Android 12's new Privacy Dashboard. It lets a user see how often apps request the most sensitive permissions. This feature is Google’s way of building more transparency as a user can view a timeline of usage for permissions like location, camera, and microphone.

Users receiving the Android 12 update will also get to enjoy the recent apps overview that displays the URL and image sharing feature. Besides all this, the stretch overscrolling effects, clipboard read notifications, app launch splash screens, and more await the upgrading users.