Google's Android 12 software is full of interesting treasures, but unless you're using one of Google's Pixel phones, it's still a long way from landing in your hands.
The tortoise pace of most Android updates is another topic for another day (much like the tortoise named Rupert that I'm pretty sure is responsible for – that slimy-shelled rogue). Today I want to explore some creative solutions to bring a small but significant amount of Android 12 goodness to any device this minute.
This minute, you say? Why, yes, Mr. Giggles! With a touch of creativity and a dash of optional platypus magic, you can experience a handful of Android-12 inspired treats on any Android device, with any version of Android – and with very little effort – right now. All you need is the right app and a few minutes of setup, and delicious versions of Android 12 will be ready and waiting for your ingestion.
To be clear, these aren't the biggest, most earth-shattering changes Android 12 has to offer. When it comes to things like the Material You system theme engine or Android 12's engine room-level privacy improvements, nothing less than the OS update itself. cannot deliver the goods. But aside from these fundamental features, Android 12 has some delicious specialties that enhance the experience – and those are the ones you can emulate most everywhere.
So grab the nearest bib, make yourself some grape soda, and get ready to wash down all those goodies, and let's dig in.
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Contents
Android 12 Feature #1: The Privacy Dashboard
One of Android 12's most important surface-level privacy features is a sassy little something called Privacy Dashboard. It's an expanded and improved control center for all things privacy on your phone, and it's easier than ever to monitor exactly how apps are accessing sensitive types of information, then take control back. as you see fit.
Without the aura of Android 12 on your grease-smeared screen, a nifty app called – oh, yes – Privacy Dashboard can fill the void. Privacy Dashboard is modeled after its Android 12 namesake and nearly identical to this native Android doppelgänger in every way.
Not bad is not it ?
The Privacy Dashboard is completely free. The app offers optional in-app donations if you want to support the developer, but at this time they don't unlock any additional features or do anything other than make you feel warm, fuzzy, and like a person with around three dollars less in their bank account.
On the related topic of privacy, the app requires a few forms of advanced system-level access to do what it needs to do, but it's all perfectly justifiable. The developer even explains what exactly the permissions are and why they are needed on the app's Play Store page and in the initial setup screens. The code is open source, too, so anyone can take a look and see exactly what's going on. And if you're still worried about how the app might handle your soft and persistent data, just check out its app info page in your system settings. You'll see that it doesn't even have the ability to access the internet, which means there's no real way to transfer any information off your device even if it wanted to (which it seems safe to say no).
Android 12 feature #2: Improved privacy indicators
Continuing our privacy theme, another Android 12 element you can afford this second is the Apple-inspired visible indicator system that pops up whenever an app accesses your device's microphone or camera. It's hopefully something you'll never need or be surprised to see, but it's a smart bit of extra privacy protection and an extra pinch of awareness to have.
And guess what? The best app to handle the task is the same one we just went through. Yes indeed: The beautiful Privacy Dashboard has you covered.
Simply install the app, if you haven't already, then tap “App Settings” on its main screen. There, you'll see the option to make sure the "Privacy Flags" feature is active with a "Custom Flags" feature that goes beyond Google's own Android 12 implementation.
How? Why, I'll tell you how, curious cup of wonder: it lets you (a) control exactly what each indicator looks like and where it appears on your screen and (b) enables an option to make those indicators actionable, so you can easily open the associated permissions log for more context whenever you see one.
What's also nice is that by default the indicators show the actual icons which make it easy to see at a glance which sensor is active at any given time. It's a much more intuitive interface than the required rendition points you get with the native Android 12 equivalent.
See the camera icon, up there in the upper right corner of the screen – way above the handsome, shiny beak of my executive assistant, Mr. Clucklesby? That's it!
Oh, and in addition to camera and microphone indicators, Privacy Dashboard also includes an on-screen indicator for location access, which Android 12 for some reason doesn't.
And if you really want to go all out, the app can even alert you with a notification whenever one of these sensors is actively in use.
Android 12 feature #3: Smarter auto-rotate
One of Android 12's niftiest tricks (and one that seems to be a Pixel-exclusive item at the moment) is a new and improved auto-rotate system. The feature relies on your phone's front-facing camera to watch which way your tilted head is tilted at any given moment, then make sure your screen matches that orientation.
You can't quite bring this full dogs and ponies show to any phone at this point, but you can give yourself something with a similar purpose - and perhaps an even more reliable result. The answer lies in a spectacular app called, aptly, Rotation Orientation Manager.
While it may have overlooked the rare opportunity of a Triple-Title rhyming with Rotation Orientation Station, Rotation Orientation Manager more than makes up for its missed meter with the exceptional screen-enhancing smarts it adds to your phone.
Just open the app, make sure to select "Auto-rotate off" as the general default on its main screen, then tap the three-line menu icon in the top-right corner and select "Terms."
Tap the row labeled "Accessibility" and follow the instructions to allow access to the app as an accessibility service - something that sounds scary but is really necessary so it can see what your phone is doing at any time, then adjust your rotation accordingly. (The developer reviews these and other permissions and outlines exactly how they're used on the app's Play Store page.)
Then go through the options on this screen and the "Applications" tab next to it. You can precisely control how and when your phone screen will rotate and not rotate to make it work the way you want.
Personally, I like to keep the rotation locked in portrait mode with all but a small handful of super specific apps - things like Camera, Photos, Maps and YouTube, where I actually want to view the screen in its horizontal orientation from time to time. Outside of these titles, it's pretty rare for me to want the screen to rotate, and Rotation Orientation Manager makes sure it never does.
Android 12 Feature #4: Smarter Search
Android 12 gives Pixel owners the ability to search the web for a long time and their phones in one streamlined place on the home screen. (Seriously, isn't it funny that an operating system and phone made by Google didn't have this search capability until now?!)
Here's a little secret: you don't need Android 12 or a Pixel to take advantage of this super handy power.
An app called Sesame will add the same kind of supercharged search setup to any Android phone – and just like with some of the other items on our friendly little list, it will actually outperform Google's implementation quite significantly.
Install Sesame on your phone and set it up. Then place its search widget on your home screen, tap it with love and start typing. As you type, Sesame returns results from your apps, contacts, and even calendar events. It indexes specific areas in apps too, so you could start typing the first two letters of a Slack team, for example, and a direct link would appear directing you directly to that part of Slack.
And, of course, just tap on those results to switch to a more traditional web search.
Sesame is $3.50 after a two-week free trial.
Android 12 feature #5: One-handed action
Finally, in our Android 12 adoption collection, there's a little something for anyone with a plus-sized screen and a normal-sized hand.
Android 12 finally introduces a native one-handed mode for Android that lets you shrink your screen's active area into a smaller window for more ergonomic access when you need it. But again, you don't actually need Android 12 to get that kind of capability.
First of all, many Android device manufacturers have been offering their own one-handed optimization systems in their versions of Android for quite some time now. On Samsung devices, for example, try searching for the phrase in your system settings one hand. This will pull the switch with instructions to activate a one-handed mode that's already on your phone and almost shockingly similar to what Google did in Android 12.
If your device doesn't have such a built-in system, don't worry — and instead go get an app called Smart Slider. So congratulate yourself on having such a nifty pointing program on your virtual companion.
Smart Cursor takes a decidedly different approach to optimizing a large Android phone for one-handed use, and even if your device does have a built-in one-handed mode feature, you might actually find it's the best. choice. What it does is give you a way to pull up a floating cursor at the top of your screen which can then access any areas you can't reach and interact with them on your behalf – much like the one of those things that grab your claws. see sometimes in the real world.
By default, you just need to swipe inwards from any of the lower areas of your phone's edges to pull the slider up. Then you move your finger to position the cursor and tap anywhere on your screen when you want the cursor to click.
Smart Cursor has tons of options to customize exactly how it all works. You can move around the trigger zone, change the size and appearance of the cursor itself, and adjust how long the cursor remains visible after it is activated. All in all, it's a very thoughtful way to extend your reach without resorting to the screen-crushing silliness that most native one-handed modes (including Android 12) require.
Smart Cursor is free in its basic form with an optional $2 upgrade that unlocks additional advanced options. The app requires the same System Accessibility Service permission we've talked about a few times now – again, inevitably, given what it needs to do – but it has no other alarming permissions or even internet access, so there's no need to worry about your hilarious head of horse.
Android 12 may be out of your reach for now, my striking steed, but with clever creations like these, you can bring splendid new features to your phone while you wait — and at least feel a little left out less than before.
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