Not even a month after Google LLC released the first developer preview of Android 12, the company is sharing its second, updated preview of the mobile operating system.

Announced today, the Android 12 Developer Preview 2 is said to be the next milestone build in this year’s release. It will give developers a chance to tinker with even more new features and provide Google with the feedback it needs to iron out the problems associated with any new software.

In a blog post, Android Vice President of Engineering Dave Burke said that with Android 12, his team is focusing on making an operating system that’s smarter and more intuitive and has better performance and privacy and security at its core. To that end, Burke said, the second developer preview offers a number of new features designed to improve trust and safety.

For example, Android 12 Developer Preview 2 is the first release to provide extended security for lockscreen notifications. This, Burke said, enables developers to configure notifications on the lockscreen to require user authentication at all times, effectively making them invisible to anyone who doesn’t know the device’s password.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller told SiliconANGLE that Google was progressively seeding new capabilities into Android via a series of staged releases. He said this is a smart strategy that enables developers to familiarize themselves with the new capabilities and implement them step by step, with each new Android preview.

“In this preview Google is enabling crucial lock screen notifications, which are a key alert sign to get users to open a particular app,” Mueller said. “This feature can therefore be key to an app’s success.”

Developers will also be able to play with some new app overlay controls. Some apps show urgent notifications via an overlay on top of another, active application. But Burke said these windows can sometimes be an unwelcome interruption for users. So now, developers have the ability to control whether these app overlays can be shown over their own content.

Also on the user experience side, the Android 12 Developer Preview 2 comes with improvements to the picture-in-picture mode. PIP is a multiwindow mode that’s mostly used for video playback. So, for example, it lets users watch a video in a small window pinned to a corner of the screen while navigating between apps or browsing content on the main screen.

Burke said developers can now use Android 12 to transition their app to picture-in-picture mode automatically if they so desire. In addition. Android 12 provides new capabilities that let developers seamlessly resize picture-in-picture elements.

“Google is making the Picture-in-Picture mode work more efficiently in a change that could have a positive impact of the future of work on smart phones,” Mueller said.

The new release also features a new application programming interface that provides support for rounded corners for the first time. That will make it possible for developers to tailor their apps for smartphones and tablets that have screens with rounded corners. “To deliver a great UX on these devices, developers need to account for the rounded corners and adjust any nearby UI elements to prevent them from being truncated,” Burke explained.

Another helpful new API is the CompanionDeviceService API for applications that manage companion devices such as a smartwatch or fitness tracker. Burke said the CompanionDeviceService API makes it possible for apps to wake up immediately whenever the companion device is nearby. “The system keeps the service bound whenever the device is nearby, and notifies the service when the device goes in and out of range or is turned off, to let the app clean up state as needed,” he said.

Mueller said the CompanionDeviceService API will make life much easier for developers that want other smart devices to work in conjunction with their apps. “This is a feature that’s becoming more and more important for many connected smartphone apps,” the analyst said.

Burke explained that one of his team’s main priorities as they roll out new versions of Android 12 is app compatibility, so most of the new app-facing changes are being made opt-in. That way, developers have more time to ensure their apps are compatible with the new functionality.

“With Developer Preview 2, we’re well into the release and continuing to improve overall stability, so now is the time to try the new features and changes and give us your feedback,” Burke said. “We’re especially looking for input on our APIs, as well as details on how the platform changes affect your apps.”

Image: Faruq Hossain/Wikimedia Commons