Before the first Android 12 developer preview landed, some leaked mockups suggested we wanted a pretty big redesign with background-based theme, a new notification screen, and conversation widgets. Most of these features were already seen in the first developer preview, and now we’re looking at talk widgets for the first time thanks to XDA.
The changes were noticed by XDA Forums member and Android app developer Kieron Quinn, who managed to activate the widget through a reverse engineering. The widget is called ‘People Space’ while it was being developed, and Quinn was able to confirm that he’s currently getting the latest chat partners from the Google Messages app, but it does not currently show the conversation itself. It also does not yet work with third-party apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
The mockups we saw before the first Android 12 developer preview give us a better look at what’s possible with the conversation widgets. You can populate your home screen with the widgets and monitor multiple conversations and activities at once, including Facebook Messenger chats, missed calls, and calendar events. Support for third-party apps has also been highlighted in internal documents recorded by XDA, and Google is currently planning to make the conversation widget a mandatory part of Android 12 for all manufacturers, so you may not even need a Pixel phone to to enjoy it.
The leaked Android 12 mockups.
For more information on the launch of Android 12, check out our announcements announcing what’s new. If you want to install the developer preview on your own device, you can find it in our Android 12 download guide.