Android 12 L Beta 2 Launched for Google Pixel Phones

Following the release of Android 12L's first beta version last year, Google has rolled out Android 12L Beta 2 for Google Pixel phones. Beta 2 includes feature updates to improve privacy, functionality, stability, and performance.

Features of Android 12L Beta 2

• Privacy Dashboard -The new upgrade gets a revamped privacy dashboard to give users better visibility over the data that apps are accessing. The dashboard offers a simple and clear timeline view of all recent app accesses to the microphone, camera, and location. Users can also request details to know why an app has accessed sensitive data, and developers can provide this information in an activity by handling a new system intent, ACTION_VIEW_PERMISSION_USAGE_FOR_PERIOD. With this feature, Google aims to help users understand access requests by apps.

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• Mic and camera indicators - Indicators are added to the status bar to let users know when apps are using the device camera and microphone. Users can go to Quick Settings to see which apps are accessing their camera or microphone data and manage permissions.
• Microphone and camera toggles - Beta 2 brings Quick Settings toggles that make it easy for users to instantly disable app access to the microphone and camera. When the toggles are turned off, an app accessing these sensors will receive blank camera and audio feeds. To enable access to use the app’s features the system will notify the user.
• Clipboard read notification - Android 12 now displays a toast message(feedback about an operation in a small popup) at the bottom of the screen each time an app reads from the clipboard. This is to give users more transparency when apps access the clipboard. Android won’t display the pop-up if the clipboard was copied from the same app.
• More intuitive connectivity experience - Google has introduced a new Internet Panel to help users switch between their internet providers and troubleshoot network connectivity issues more easily. This will promote a smoother connectivity experience across the Status Bar, Quick Settings, and Settings. Google says users can understand and manage their network connections better with this feature.

List of Google Pixel Phones That Will Receive the Update

• Pixel 3a
• Pixel 3a XL
• Pixel 4
• Pixel 4 XL
• Pixel 4a
• Pixel 4a (5G)
• Pixel 5
• Pixel 5a

Google's new flagship, the Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 6 Pro is yet to receive the update. The tech giant says it is working on bringing  Android 12L Beta 2 to its new flagship soon.

How to Get Android 12L Beta 2?

Google Pixel users can enroll for the update by visiting the tech giant's official beta program page. Users who have previously enrolled for Beta 1 will automatically get the new update.

For those who don’t prefer the manual installation route, install the Beta version using the Android Flash Tool. It is a web-based installer that accompanies a GUI-based wizard that simplifies the flashing process.

Google advises caution for Pixel users who are looking to try out the beta program. According to Google,

• This release might have various stability, battery, or performance issues.
• For users with accessibility needs, this release might not be appropriate for daily use.
• Some apps might not function as expected when running on this release. This includes Google’s apps as well as other apps.

Image Credits @Google

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