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Android 12 Beta 3 lands today with the scrolling screenshots we've been waiting years for
Get ready for your screenshot gallery to start looking like a collection of CVS receipts
Android 12 Beta 3 lands today, and chief among the changes Google has announced with this latest release is one we have been waiting actual, literal years for. In 2019, Google called it "infeasible," but a single question from the audience at Google I/O overruled that decision. Hidden signs of it appeared in Android 11 before Google pushed back development. It was spotted again in an early Android 12 preview. And now, on Wednesday, July 14th, Google has made one of stock Android's longest-requested features a reality. We got scrolling screenshots, guys.
Google reveals its most radical Android 12 changes yet in new beta
Get your Pixels ready for the Privacy Dashboard, microphone and camera indicators, and more
Android 12's long-awaited privacy features are official — though a few won't land until Beta 2
Privacy Dashboard, mic and camera indicators, permissions tweaks, and more
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Android 12 Beta 1 is here, and with it are a handful of previously leaked privacy tweaks. On top of those already live in the current release, like the new approximate location permission and Bluetooth scanning tweaks, Google has also laid out the schedule for its new camera and microphone indicators and Privacy Dashboard. Some of these features have been in development for years. But today, at Google I/O, the company is finally showing them off.
Android 12 isn't simply copying iOS 14's privacy indicators, it's improving them
Sneaky apps will have a harder time sneaking up on you
In this day and age, privacy is a major concern, so it's comforting when companies take a proactive approach. Last month we saw what Google's upcoming privacy indicators are likely to look like in Android 12, and we're now seeing live evidence with Developer Preview 2.
We're anxiously awaiting Google's first Android 12 preview release, which we expect may land in the next month or so. But even though we haven't seen it yet, plenty of details regarding the new release are public, between leaks and Google's own public plans. Right now, there are five big features we're looking forward to — assuming Google doesn't push any of them back (again).
We may have just caught our first glimpse of Android 12. A handful of images purported to be screenshots that illustrate features in the next release have been published by XDA Developers, originating from what is reportedly an early draft of an internal Google document. They indicate bigger visual changes than we might have expected, plus a long-awaited privacy feature that's been under development since Android 10 Q, and which iOS got just last year.