Back to top

Android 12

More personal, safe and effortless than ever before.

Android 12 delivers even more personal, safe and effortless experiences on your device. Featuring a totally reimagined UI just for you, new privacy features that are designed for your safety and put you in control, and more seamless ways to get right to your gameplay or even switch to a new device.

Android 12 delivers even more personal, safe and effortless experiences on your device. Featuring a totally reimagined UI just for you, new privacy features that are designed for your safety and put you in control, and more seamless ways to get right to your gameplay or even switch to a new device.

Android 12
Highlights

Personal

Our most personal OS yet.

Android 12 is our most personal OS ever, featuring dynamic color capabilities that can transform your experience based on your wallpaper and responsive motion that responds to your touch. Even the widgets have been given a facelift, with your favorite people always available right there on your home screen. And with a more spacious redesign, color contrast optimizations and new features to help those with low vision, Android 12 is designed to be accessible for even more users.

Material you

A boundary-pushing redesign.

Android 12 rethinks the entire user interface, from shapes, light and motion, to customizable system colors that can be adapted to match you. Redesigned to be more spacious and comfortable, it’s our most expressive, dynamic and personal OS ever.

Dynamic color

Color reimagined.

Change your wallpaper on your Pixel and your entire Android 12 experience changes to match. Using advanced color extraction algorithms you can easily personalize the look and feel of your entire phone, including notifications, settings, widgets and even select apps.

Responsive motion

A smoother, more responsive UI.

The UI feels alive with every tap, swipe and scroll—responding quickly and expressively with smooth motion and animations. Android 12 delivers improved system performance so your device can work in perfect harmony with you.

The UI feels alive with every tap, swipe and scroll—responding quickly and expressively with smooth motion and animations. Android 12 delivers improved system performance so your device can work in perfect harmony with you.

Conversation widgets

Your favorite people have a new home.

An all-new conversation widget puts the conversations with the people you care about front-and-center on your home screen so you never miss a chat from your loved ones. You can even see missed calls, birthdays and more at a glance.

An all-new conversation widget puts the conversations with the people you care about front-and-center on your home screen so you never miss a chat from your loved ones. You can even see missed calls, birthdays and more at a glance.

Accessibility improvements

Built for accessibility.

Android 12 is designed to be even more accessible with new visibility features, including:

Area magnification

A new window magnifier lets you zoom in on a part of your screen without having to lose context on the rest of the screen content.

Extra dim

Make your display extra dim for night-time scrolling or situations when even the lowest brightness setting is too bright.

Bold text

See text more clearly with the ability to switch the font to bold across the whole phone.

Grayscale

Adjust how colors display on your device to grayscale.

Safe

Private by design so you’re in control.

Android 12 is designed for your safety. With new easy-to-use, powerful privacy features, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you have control over who can see your data and when.

Mic & camera indicators and toggles

Stronger mic and camera access controls.

With Android 12, you can see when an app is using your microphone or camera thanks to a new indicator in your phone’s status bar. And if you don’t want any apps to access your microphone or camera, you can completely disable those sensors using two new toggles in quick settings. Simply flip the switch.

With Android 12, you can see when an app is using your microphone or camera thanks to a new indicator in your phone’s status bar. And if you don’t want any apps to access your microphone or camera, you can completely disable those sensors using two new toggles in quick settings. Simply flip the switch.

Approximate location permissions

Keep your precise location private.

While some apps need precise location information for tasks like turn-by-turn navigation, many other apps only need your approximate location to be helpful. With Android 12, you can choose between giving apps access to your precise location or an approximate location instead.

While some apps need precise location information for tasks like turn-by-turn navigation, many other apps only need your approximate location to be helpful. With Android 12, you can choose between giving apps access to your precise location or an approximate location instead.

Privacy dashboard

Your privacy permissions at a glance.

Privacy dashboard gives you a clear and comprehensive view of when apps access your location, camera or mic over the past 24 hours. If you see anything that you’re not comfortable with, you can manage permissions right from the dashboard.

Privacy dashboard gives you a clear and comprehensive view of when apps access your location, camera or mic over the past 24 hours. If you see anything that you’re not comfortable with, you can manage permissions right from the dashboard.

Private compute core

Protect sensitive data in the Private Compute Core.

Powerful Android features like Live Caption and Now Playing are enabled by continuous streams of data like audio from your apps, sounds nearby, or the content on your screen. But this data can be highly sensitive and you might not want it to leave your phone.

It's essential that we build these features in a privacy-preserving way, so we built Private Compute Core. It's a first-of-its-kind secure mobile environment that is isolated from the rest of the operating system and your apps. Any information processed in Private Compute Core requires explicit user action before it can be shared with Google or any app or service. And like the rest of Android, the protections in Private Compute Core are open source and fully inspectable and verifiable by the security community.

Powerful Android features like Live Caption and Now Playing are enabled by continuous streams of data like audio from your apps, sounds nearby, or the content on your screen. But this data can be highly sensitive and you might not want it to leave your phone.

It's essential that we build these features in a privacy-preserving way, so we built Private Compute Core. It's a first-of-its-kind secure mobile environment that is isolated from the rest of the operating system and your apps. Any information processed in Private Compute Core requires explicit user action before it can be shared with Google or any app or service. And like the rest of Android, the protections in Private Compute Core are open source and fully inspectable and verifiable by the security community.

Effortless

Everything on your phone just got easier.

Android 12 makes everything on your phone effortless and easy. You can get into gameplay without having to wait for a full download and even transfer your data onto a new Android phone without any hassle.

Enhanced gaming

Kick-start your gameplay.

Spend less time waiting and more time playing. Android 12 lets you play as you download, so you can jump straight into gameplay without needing to wait for the full download to finish.1

You can also select your game mode for performance or battery life, whether you want a richer gaming experience or longer play session.

Spend less time waiting and more time playing. Android 12 lets you play as you download, so you can jump straight into gameplay without needing to wait for the full download to finish.1

You can also select your game mode for performance or battery life, whether you want a richer gaming experience or longer play session.

Scrolling screenshots

Extend screenshots beyond your screen.

Just because you reach the end of your screen doesn’t mean you need to reach the end of your screenshot. Scrolling screenshots allow you to capture all the content on the page in one image.

Just because you reach the end of your screen doesn’t mean you need to reach the end of your screenshot. Scrolling screenshots allow you to capture all the content on the page in one image.

Easily switch phones

Switching made easy.

It’s never been easier to switch to Android and try out the best device for you. Starting on Android 12, you can transfer all your essentials by connecting your old phone to your new Android with a cable or shared WiFi connection. Your memories and data will transfer, stress-free—even from iPhone® (welcome!).

It’s never been easier to switch to Android and try out the best device for you. Starting on Android 12, you can transfer all your essentials by connecting your old phone to your new Android with a cable or shared WiFi connection. Your memories and data will transfer, stress-free—even from iPhone® (welcome!).