Google released the first developer preview of the upcoming Android 12 update last week, and we’ve been breaking down the new system apps and firmware to find clues about new features. Although we found a lot ourselves, we need to give credit to talented developers at XDA to find some of the more exciting features, such as the background-based theme system and machine-learning backbone detection. Now Kieron Quinn, AKA XDA-recognized developer Quinny899, is back with another creation: our first (real) look at Android 12’s talk widget.
Our first look at Android 12 came 2 weeks ago, and it showed radical changes to the design, but also a new widget called the Conversation widget. According to documentation provided by XDA, Android 12 will introduce conversation widgets that highlight recent messages, missed calls, or activity statuses. The widget is included in Android’s SystemUI application and is currently planned to be a mandatory feature for all Android 12 devices.
Google models of Android 12’s new conversation widget feature leaked.
During our hands-on launch of the first Android 12 developer preview, we did not see a conversation widget in the Pixel Launcher widget selector. However, we knew it would come from code analysis and the presence of a new activity asking you to “select one conversation you want to show in your widget.” Thanks to the reverse engineering effort of Quinny899, we can not only confirm that this feature appears in the first developer preview, but that it also works. Quinny899 was able to add a conversation widget (currently called ‘People Space’) that contains information about the latest message from the Google Messages app. The widget does not currently show the actual content of the message, nor does it work with other applications he has tried, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
Android 12’s development talk widget. Credits: Quinny899 / Kieron Quinn.
A new conversation widget is not all that Google is working on in Android 12. There is also evidence that Google is working on iOS widget stacks, although the implementation is far from complete. We’ll continue to look at the first developer preview to see what we can find, but for now I’ll not wake up your hope of a great widget that will review the iteration.