8 Android 12 hidden features you should know about | Laptop Mag

8 Android 12 hidden features yous should know about

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Android 12 is the mobile Os's biggest update in years, and there are plenty of hidden features that you should know almost. Sure, it brings a new adaptive design language that refreshes the software's wait down to the last pixel. And everything from the buttons to the sliders has a delightfully fresh appearance with bolder visuals and smoother animations. Withal, Android 12 is not just a corrective update, though: it also packs a serial of practical additions that you may have missed.

Android 12'south best hidden features are tucked deep in the settings. For example, you tin control your phone with just your facial expressions, kill sensitive modules similar the microphone with a simple tap, and dim the screen beyond the bachelor limit. And there'south more than that hidden below the software. Here are the best Android 12 hidden features you should be using.

Editor's Notation: The availability of these features will depend on your telephone manufacturer. The article is based on the Google Pixel 3's Android 12 update.

Take (super) long screenshots

Usually, when you desire to capture screenshots of long web pages or documents, you'd take to take multiple of them and manually curl until you lot've covered the entire length. Android 12 saves you this hassle with extended screen-grabs. It tin automatically sew together screenshots based on your needs, like capturing a long web page. So a single extended screenshot file includes not only what'due south on your screen at the moment but also everything that's beneath it.

To take scrolling screenshots on Android, printing the ability and book down keys together and tap the "Capture more" push next to the pop-upward on the lesser left corner. Drag the screenshot's corners to select how much of the view you want to capture and hit "Save."

The mic and photographic camera kill switches

On Android 12, whenever an app accesses your telephone'due south camera or microphone, an indicator pops up at the top of your screen. In addition to that, Android 12 comes equipped with kill switches for these modules. Therefore, if you lot decide to upgrade your privacy and block all apps from using your phone'south camera or mic, you can do so in an instant from the Quick Settings panel.

Pull downwardly the Quick Settings and swipe left on it to visit the side by side page of toggles. Tap "Mic access" to block microphone admission and "Photographic camera access" for the cameras. However, if you don't see those prompts, click the pen button in the lesser left, which will reveal a slew of new titles including the aforementioned ones.

Compress the screen for 1-mitt use

Google also added a i-handed style on Android 12. When you lot activate it, the pinnacle of your screen'due south content slides downwards to the bottom half so that it'southward easier for you to operate it with simply ane hand -- similar to the Reachability tool on iOS.

Go to Settings > System > Gestures > 1-handed mode to enable Android 12'southward one-handed way. To utilize it, you'll accept to swipe downward on the navigation bar at the bottom center of your screen.

Turn your phone's back into a shortcut

On Android 12, you lot can double-tap the back of your phone to rapidly launch certain actions and apps. It'due south called "Quick Tap," and it's present nether Settings > System > Gestures. You can pick from a agglomeration of shortcuts to link, such as taking a screenshot or pausing the media playback.

At the time of writing, Quick Tap was sectional to the Google Pixel 4a and subsequently models.

Become a pro gamer

Android 12 has a few new tricks up its sleeve for gamers too. When you lot're playing on a telephone running Android 12, yous can pull out a game dashboard, which houses a range of tools for supercharging your gameplay experience. Inside the dashboard, you'll find options to switch on an FPS counter, record the gameplay, and stream on sites similar YouTube. It besides lets you apace put your phone on Practice Not Disturb mode to optimize its performance for the best results.

Visit Settings > Notifications > Practise Not Disturb > Schedules, enable "Gaming," and then touch the cog-wheel icon next to information technology. Toggle the "Game Dashboard" and "Practice Not Disturb for games" options. Now when you open a game on your phone, you'll have a blackness controller button on the screen's edge. Tap it to enter the Game Dashboard.

Command phone with your face up

For users with disabilities, Android 12 has a new accessibility tool that allows you to command the interface with only your facial expressions. You can assign a handful of facial gestures to actions and navigate the Bone without touching your phone at all. For instance, it can pull down your notification shade when you open your rima oris or get dorsum home when you look to the right.

Become to Settings > Accessibility > Switch Access to activate "Use Switch access." On the following screen, select "Photographic camera Switch," and go along the onboarding process with the default options to get started.

If you're tired of your phone screen being also bright for your belatedly-dark scrolling sessions, Android 12 has a handy toggle for you. Information technology lets you dim the screen beyond the brightness slider's limit. The option is called "Extra Dim" and is located nether Settings > Accessibility.

When you turn on "Actress Dim," Android 12 closes the blinds and adds a petty shade to your brandish. Withal, the difference isn't significant, just it notwithstanding should be more comfortable on your eyes than the brightness slider'southward everyman value.

Practise more from the overview manner

Google has upgraded the apps overview mode on Android 12 so that you lot can go more out of it. Now you lot can screenshot as well equally copy text and images correct from the multitasking view where you jump between all your active apps.

Inside the updated overview mode, you'll get-go spot two new buttons. "Screenshot" is self-explanatory and saves a screengrab of your last activity on an app. "Select" applies an OCR engine on the app's view and allows you to copy whatever text on it. In example it'south a browser, you'll find a new push at the top to grab its link, and if there's an epitome, you tin can long-press its thumbnail to copy or share information technology.

Shubham Agarwal is a freelance technology journalist from Ahmedabad, Republic of india. His work has previously appeared in Business Insider, Fast Company, HuffPost, and more than. You can reach out to him on Twitter.