Back in October, Google announced Android 12L as an unexpected “special feature drop” to improve the OS on tablets and foldables devices. After one 12L developer preview and three betas, this next release of Android — officially version 12.1 — is launching for Pixel phones alongside the March Feature Drop, while Google detailed what’s coming for tablets and foldables.
Android 12L for phones
Compared to Android 12 in October, 12L makes a number of usability improvements with a handful of new animations, including a pulsing when using the under-display fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 6. Speaking of the lockscreen, those that are quite upset with the big Material You clock when there are no notifications can now disable it from Settings > Display > Lock screen > Double-line clock. The time will then always appear in the top-left corner.
On the homescreen, long-pressing reveals a new quick wallpaper picker that shows your current and last four backgrounds. Tapping on one immediately updates your wallpaper with a flashy animation. At a Glance also gets a small update where tapping the day/date once again opens Google Calendar. It’s a bit hard to not accidentally launch Google Weather, and your best bet is tapping the numeral. Lastly, when opening an app’s Widgets menu, the sheet now takes up the full page.
Android 12L makes a handful of tweaks to Quick Settings. The “Internet” (which gets a “Turn off airplane mode” shortcut) and “Screen record” tiles are no longer docked to the bottom/top of the screen, but instead are centered. There’s also a delightful animation where the Power menu expands out of and contracts into the button at the bottom of the QS row.
In the Recents multitasking menu, “Split screen” is now called “Split top” and sees the app windows get a more prominent divider and curvature. Elsewhere, various UI elements – including “Sound & vibration” and “Unblock device camera/microphone” – have been updated with better Material You spacing and new buttons.
