Google recently released the first Android 12 beta for Pixel phones, and select OEMs have joined the party, including OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Xiaomi, and more. You can now install the Android 12 beta on your compatible phone. Android 12 has many new features including the new Material You design language, a redesigned quick settings page, updated privacy indicators, and more. Now, many of you must be wondering – when will my Android phone get the Android 12 update? We are all aware of the notorious Android fragmentation issue so it will take some time. So, if you want to try some of the new Android 12 features, we’ve compiled a list of Android 12 features you can get on any Android phone right now.
Get Android 12 Features On Any Android Device (2021)
Since Android 12 features were not natively available on older versions of Android, we added the closest match via apps that copied the functionality. We’ll update this article as developers release new apps, so be mindful of that. That said, let’s take a look at the features you can replicate on your Android phone right now.
1. Android 12 Widgets
Google finally paid attention to the widgets in Android 12 and added new ones visually. You can try these right now, Thanks to an app called KWGT Pro. If you’re an Android buff, you probably bought KWGT Pro or requested it when it was temporarily free in May 2017. If you don’t have KWGT Pro, you can: Buy from Play Store From $5.99. Yes, it’s a bit pricey but worth every penny if you want to customize widgets on your Android phone.
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Clock Widget
If all you want is an Android 12 inspired clock widget, there is a free app that works even if you don’t have a KWGT. All you have to do is install the app and add the widget to your home screen from the widgets page. There is another free app (download) works with Kustom, but is a bit buggy at the moment and doesn’t show the minute hand.
download Android 12 Clock Widgets (Free)
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Material Widgets
If you are looking for more Android 12 widgets, you can install one of the apps linked below:
- download Android 12 Widgets for KWGT (Rs.99, need KWGT Pro)
- check out Android 12 widgets for KWGT Pro (Rs.30 needs KWGT Pro)
- download Material U – KWGT inspired by Android 12 (Rs.85 needs KWGT Pro)
Once installed, create widgets for KWGT from the widget picker interface and import the installed widget. If you’ve never used KWGT before, follow the instructions below to get started:
1. Long press the home screen and Tap on the “Widgets” option when does it open.
2. Scroll down until you find “Custom Widget”. Once here, drag and drop your preferred widget size on the homepage. Next, tap on “Click to Install or long press to Resize” section of your widget
3. Tapping the widget on the home screen will take you to the KWGT app. Now, under the “Installed packages” section in the KWGT app, select your preferred KWGT package and select the full widget from the next page.
4. Select the widget and you will see the editing screen. Tap the “Save” button Click on the top right corner to apply the widget.
Yeah that’s it. Now you can enjoy the more visually pleasing widgets available with Android 12 on your phone.
2. Privacy Indicators
Following in the footsteps of Apple, Google added a privacy indicator to Android 12. With this feature, you will know when an app is using your camera or microphone.
Fortunately, there is one The app called Access Dots it does just that. All you have to do is install the app and give it the necessary accessibility permissions. You will see a green indicator when your phone’s camera is in use. The dot turns orange when an app is using your microphone.
download Access Points from Play Store
3. Privacy Dashboard
Google is also adding a privacy dashboard to Android 12 that logs all apps accessing permissions. you can use Free third-party app called “Privacy Dashboard” to keep track of apps accessing your camera, location, and microphone. Shows when an app accessed the camera or microphone, the amount of time the permission was granted, and more. You can also limit permissions to an app that you think is abusing the camera, location, or microphone.
The developer has also added privacy indicators to this app, but you will need to enable them separately from the app’s settings.
download Privacy Control Panel from Play Store (Free, offers in-app purchases)
4. Double Tap Back Gestures
Google is preparing a double-tap gesture on Pixel phones that will allow users to trigger Assistant, take screenshots, control media playback, open recent apps screen, and control notifications. If you want a similar feature on your Android phone, you’ll be glad to know. Tap, there’s an app called Tap This brings the touch gestures back to your Android phone. The app is open source, easy to install, and you can download it from GitHub using the link below.
download Tap Tap on GitHub
5. Scrolling Screenshots
Scrolling screenshots is a potential Android 12 feature. While most third-party Android skins like MIUI, OxygenOS, and others already have the scrolling screenshot feature, there are apps you can use to bring this functionality to any Android device.
One such app is LongShot, and you can download it for free from Play Store. For more scrolling screenshot apps, check out our detailed guide on taking scrolling screenshots on Android.
download LongShot from Play Store
6. Wi-Fi Password Sharing
Starting with Android 12, you can share Wi-Fi passwords via Share with Nearby from the Wi-Fi connections page. Share with Nearby has arrived on many Android phones, but you can’t use this feature yet. So if you want Share Wi-Fi passwords using QR codes on any Android phoneyou can check our linked guide for that.
If you are using an old Android phone, you can even use one of the apps in the list of best QR code scanner apps to manually generate a QR code for your Wi-Fi network by entering the SSID and password. Most QR code scanner apps come with a built-in generator tool and one such app is linked below.
download WiFi QR Code Scanner from Play Store
7. Android 12 Notification Shade
As of now, we haven’t found any apps that replicate the rectangular quick settings icon design of Android 12’s notification shade. But the closest in appearance and functionality should be “MI Control Center: Notifications and Quick Actions”. The app brings MIUI 12’s Control Center to any Android device, and in the process, you get rectangular quick settings panels that are somewhat similar to Android 12’s quick settings.
It’s not perfect, but that’s what we’ve got for now. We will update this article when there is a better alternative around. Until then, you can use this if you want to give your notification panel a new look.
download Mi Control Center: Notifications and Quick Actions from Play Store
8. Android 12 Icon Pack and Wallpapers
As for the easiest customization possible, it’s icon packs and wallpapers. If you want a clean icon pack to bring your experience closer to Android 12, you can: Check out the Pixel pie icon pack on Play Store (free, in-app purchase starts at $0.99). You can also check out Android 12 Icon Pack ($1.49) and Android 12 Colors – Icon Pack ($1.49) to give your home screen a look similar to the Android 12 screenshot that leaked long ago.
If your default launcher doesn’t support custom icon packs, get Nova launcher, Lawnchair or any of the best Android launchers from our linked guide. To apply the icon pack, open the icon pack app and tap on “Apply Pixel Icon Pack” here. Then select the Nova launcher or your preferred custom launcher from the next screen.
For wallpapers, you can download Android 12 wallpapers from: this Google Drive linkCourtesy of the Russian tech blog rosetked. Rozetked has also uploaded a few additional wallpapers and you can download them. here.
Do an Android 12 Overhaul on Your Phone
These are the Android 12 features that you can enjoy on your phone right now. The options for alternative apps are pretty limited at the moment as the stable Android 12 build is not out yet. We will update this article regularly when developers manage to port any other Android 12 features and release an app to let others enjoy it. So stay tuned for more updates and let us know your favorite new Android 12 feature. Also, if you think there is another app that we can use to replicate Android 12 features on any Android phone, let us know in the comments below.
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