Google Drive first to have Android 12 animated splash screen

One of the new features that is coming to Android users with the upcoming new build (Android 12) is an animated icon on the splash screen of certain apps being opened. For example, when you tap on a compatible app, the icon will expand until it reaches all four corners of the display. Google says that the animated icon startup will "deliver a more consistent and delightful experience."

On the Android developers web page, Google writes that the new animated icon startup "includes an into-app motion at launch, a splash screen showing your app icon, and a transition to your app itself. Google writes that "The new experience brings standard design elements to every app launch, but it’s also customizable so your app can maintain its unique branding."

When a user launches an app with the app's process not running (known as a cold start), or the app is launched without an Activity created (known as a warm start), the system will show splash screens with themes and animation created by the developer. When the app is ready to run, the splash screen is dismissed and the app appears. The splash screen never appears during a hot start which takes place when an app is running in the background and the system merely brings it to the foreground.

Google first announced its plans to include the splash screen animations API in Android 12 Developer Preview 3. There is an enter animation and an exit one. The former runs from the system view to the splash screen while the latter accounts for the animation that hides the splash screen. Developers can customize the splash screen by changing its appearance, keeping it on screen for a longer period of time, and customizing the animation when dismissing the splash screen.

Drive is the first of Google's apps to feature the animated splash screen, now live for all Android 12 users.