Maru Ahues Bouza, Director, Android Developer Relations

At the Android Developer Summit in October, we highlighted the growth of tablets, foldable devices, and large-screen devices like Chromebooks, and how new Jetpack apis, tools, and guidelines make it easier for developers to build great app experiences for these devices. We also released a developer preview of Android 12L, a feature update for Android 12 designed for the big screen.

With 12L, we’ve optimized and polished the system interface for larger screens, made multitasking more powerful and intuitive, and improved compatibility support to make apps look better by default. 12L also provides developers with new apis such as spatial audio and improved drag-and-drop for a better big-screen experience.

Today, we’re officially releasing the first Beta version of Android 12L for people to test and submit feedback on the app in preparation for a feature update that will be available early next year. You can set up the Android emulator in Android Studio to try out the new big-screen features. Android 12L is also available on phones, and you can get Android 12L Beta 1 on supported Pixel devices by signing up to participate in the test. If you are already participating in the Android 12 Beta, you will automatically get the 12L update. We’ve partnered with Lenovo to make Android 12L available on lenovo Tab P12 Pro. For more information on the available builds and support, go to lenovo’s official website.

Android 12L Beta 1

Today’s Beta 1 release contains feature and user experience improvements, the latest bug fixes and optimizations, and a December 2021 security patch. For developers, we finished the API early, so Beta 1 also includes the official Android 12L API (API level 32), updated build tools, and system images for testing. You can use these to test your application’s performance in various Android 12L features.

In Android 12L, we focused on improving the user interface on larger screen devices, including notifications, quick Settings, lock screens, overview, home screens, and more. For example, on screens above 600DP width, the notification bar, lock screen, and other system interfaces have a new two-column layout to take full advantage of screen real estate.

A two-column layout shows more content and is easier to use

Multitasking is also more powerful and intuitive — Android 12L offers a new taskbar on the big screen, allowing users to switch to their favorite apps at any time, or drag and drop them into split-screen mode. Keep in mind that with Android 12 and later, users can launch any app in split screen mode, whether or not the app is declared resizable. So be sure to test your app in split screen mode!

Drag and drop the app to split screen mode

Finally, by improving the visuals and stability of compatibility mode, we have brought a better black edge mode experience to users and helped apps look better by default. If your app isn’t already optimized for larger screens, test it in the new black edge mode.

More apis and tools to facilitate big screen builds

These new apis and tools make it easier to create a smooth experience for your users as you optimize your app for the larger screen:

  • Material Mode for Large Screens – The new Material design guide helps you extend the application interface to all screen sizes.

  • Jetpack Compose supports adaptive interfaces – Jetpack Compose makes it very easy for you to handle interface changes in different screen sizes or components. Learn the basics by building an adaptive layout guide in Compose.

  • Window Size Classes for managing user interfaces – Window Size Classes are a set of advisory guidelines for sorting by Window Size (called “breakpoints “) that help simplify the design, development, and testing of resizable application layouts. This API is coming soon in Jetpack WindowManager 1.1.

  • Activity Embedding – With the Activity Embedding API, you can display multiple activities at once using additional display areas on the large screen, enabling layout patterns such as “list-detail” with little or no application refactoring. This API is available in Jetpack WindowManager 1.0 Beta 03 and later.

  • Visual Lint in Android Studio – The new visual Lint tool in Android Studio Chipmunk provides interface warnings and suggestions in Layout Validation, To help you identify potential problems in large screen layouts.

  • Resizable Emulator – This is a new emulator configuration that comes with Android Studio Chipmunk, allowing you to quickly switch between four reference devices (phone, foldable device, tablet, and desktop) for easy testing.

Be sure to check out our big-screen developer resources for details on these and more apis and tools.

Start playing Android 12L on your device!

With the Android 12L feature update due out early next year, it’s time to start optimizing your apps for the big screen. For developers, we strongly recommend checking how your app works in split-screen mode with Windows of all sizes. If you haven’t already optimized your app, take a look at how it looks in different screen orientations and try out the new compatibility mode (if applicable).

The easiest way to get started with the larger screen feature is to use the Android emulator’s foldable device or tablet Settings, see the full setup instructions.

You can also swipe The Android 12L onto a big-screen physical device. We’ve partnered with Lenovo to give you a preview of Android 12L on the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. Currently, Lenovo is offering developer Preview version 1, which will be updated in the coming weeks. Please visit Lenovo’s Android 12L preview site for complete information on available versions and support.

Android 12L will also run on phones. While larger screen capabilities won’t be available on smaller screen devices, you’re welcome to try out the latest improvements in this feature update. Just register with a supported Pixel device to get the latest Android 12L Beta via OTA updates. If you are already participating in the Android 12 Beta, you will automatically get the 12L update.

For more details and release schedules on Android 12L, visit the Android 12L developer website. Don’t forget to submit questions and requirements, and as always, we appreciate your feedback!

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