Android 12 Beta 4 so far seems to have fewer changes than prior releases — which makes sense, given how close we're getting to the final, stable release. Among those spotted so far include a handful of lockscreen related tweaks, including a slight change to the size and spacing of the Google Sans Text typeface for Now Playing, a new icon for the wallet/Cards & Passes shortcut, and a return of the padlock lock screen indicator icon.

Left: Beta 3. Right: Beta 4.

As you can see above, the lock indicator itself, which seemingly disappeared when the new clock layout rolled out in Beta 1, is back as of Beta 3 — and this isn't the first time that it's left and come back. It played hooky for a bit on the keyguard in Android 12 DP1, returning later, and then leaving again with the new keyguard/pin entry.

The Cards & Passes shortcut that rolled out in Beta 2 also has a new icon that's a bit easier to parse at a glance as a card, rather than the sort of wallet-like icon we had before.

Two comparisons of Now Playing in Beta 3 and Beta 4 — in both cases, Beta 4 is the larger example. Bottom comparison from 9to5Google images.

 You might think the typeface for Now Playing has changed, but so far as we can tell in our own typographic analysis, it's actually exactly the same Google Sans Text font Google used previously, just at a slightly different size, and potentially with slightly tweaked spacing.

We're still digging into Android 12 Beta 4 (Samsung didn't leave us a whole lot of time to do it yesterday given the Fold3/Flip3 and all), but keep an eye on our Android 12 feature series coverage for more.