Google's Android 12 redesign leaks with theme support, new animations, more

Google is rumored to be revamping Wear OS this year and the update is said to be so substantial that even Samsung is on board with the plans. Now, an Android 12 leak points to a huge software redesign on Google's smartphones too.

Android 12 will support themes and include new animations

YouTuber Jon Prosser, who released Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro renders earlier this week, has shared what he claims to be a promo video and images of Google’s Android 12 software ahead of its official debut at Google I/O next week.

The new software will introduce a heavily redesigned user interface that includes native theming support, per the leak. Things like the new keyboard, app icons, and system app UIs will change their appearance based on the chosen theme. The same can be said for the revamped Quick Settings menu and updated volume controls.

That’s all coupled with a range of new widgets that also support theming. There are updated animations across the entire UI too, which make things look a lot smoother and give the impression of a more fluid interface.

Google might also be enabling other important UI customization options. Per the promo video, these will include the ability to manually (and easily) group notifications, as well as the capacity to adjust the size of the calculator pad inside the calculator app.

Visually, this might be considered the biggest update to the Android operating system since Google released Android 5.0 Lollipop with the Material Design language way back in 2014.

What else is coming to Android 12?

In one of the slides meant to be shown at Google I/O next week, the internet giant calls Android 12 "a beautiful new experience" that will offer users both "stronger privacy and security protections."

What those privacy and security protections entail exactly will remain to be seen. However, a report published in February claimed that Google was working on an alternative to Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature.

Google might start pushing the Android ecosystem more actively with this update too. The same slide says "all of your devices work better together," suggesting there'll now be closer integration with smart home products and wearables. 

Other features not mentioned in this leak include Google Assistant theming support, which was revealed in a separate leak recently. Additional Assistant triggers, such as a double-tap back gesture, are set to be part of Android 12 too.

Tablets won’t be left out of the Android 12 update either. Although the device category is largely dominated by Samsung and Apple, Android 12 is expected to offer better native tablet multitasking.

On a semi-related note, the end of the promo video includes a glimpse at what could Google's next flagship. The smartphone seen in the clip features a centered punch-hole and a squared-off design, much like the vanilla Google Pixel 6 that leaked earlier this week,

As pointed out by Prosser, the smartphone also displays the time as 9:30. That could be a coincidence, but it's the same time Prosser spotted in hands-on photos of Google's next-generation flagships. 

An official Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro announcement isn't expected until September or October. But Google officially teased the flagship Pixel 4 in June 2019, four months before its October reveal, so perhaps history will repeat itself at Google I/O next week with our first official look at the Pixel 6 series.