We've officially reached the phase of Android 11's life cycle where the Android 12 rumors start coming out in full force.
Today, XDA Developers reported that Google is working on a one-handed mode for Android 12 that'll make it much easier to navigate around the phone with a single hand. Whether you have big or small hands, this could open up a whole new way to interact with your Android device.
Of course, many device manufacturers and software developers have introduced solutions to improve one-handed usability. Still, it'll be far more pleasant to use it when it's integrated directly into the operating system.
Android 12 One-Handed Mode
According to the report, Google is planning to add the one-handed feature to AOSP, which is the open-source version of Android that any software builders can use in their devices. That also means that OEMs that have yet to develop their own one-handed mode will have an easy way to implement the feature into their devices.
What the report didn't indicate was whether Google would require phone makers to use Android 12's one-handed feature or if it would be optional.
As it's still incredibly early, we don't know exactly how Android 12's one-handed mode will work. If Google's past ability to add features into the operating system is any indication, we'd expect the company to do a good job with the implementation. Google may elect to shrink the entire screen down to a corner of the device for easy access.
The report also indicates that the Android 12 one-handed mode will have a way to trigger it using the traditional three-button mode along with the newer gestural navigation mode.
As mentioned, plenty of smartphone OEMs have already implemented the feature into their own modified version of Android. For example, Huawei actually tried to submit its version of the feature to AOSP, but Google rejected it. Perhaps Google turned it down because the company knew it intended to bring its own version of the feature itself.
Because this leak is so early, no photos demonstrate the feature yet, so we'll have to wait until Android 12 comes closer to its release.
Android 12's Two-Handed Mode Availability
Sadly, we don't know exactly when Android 12 will roll out to the public (though it won't be for a while). We also don't know exactly when this feature will come out for developers or to the Beta or Stable Android releases.
As is always the case with new Android features, we'll have to wait and see whether it comes to the OS at all.
