Android 12 leak just revealed top new features

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Get ready for double tap and App Pairs

Google Pixel 5 review
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Google Pixel is about to get a little-known iPhone feature in a future update, and it'll make loading up the Google Assistant much easier.

The double-tap feature was first teased in early releases of the Android 11 Developer Preview. But upon its release, the double-tap feature had been removed. According to intel seen by 9to5Google, double-tap will make its official debut on Pixel phones with Android 12. 

Android 12 should also include a new feature called App Pairs, and we have all the info below. 

The gesture, codenamed Columbus, a reference to Jessie Eisenberg's character from the movie "Zombieland," can be programmed to do a few things. It can activate the Google Assistant, take screenshots, pause or resume playback, open the notification shade, and open recent apps view. 

Apparently, the Android 11 beta version of double-tab was far too sensitive. This time around, users can adjust the phone to recognize harder taps. Apple fans shouldn't fret either, as the back tap feature is already in iOS 14.

Google has not announced the developer preview for Android 12. But considering Android 11's developer preview went live in February of 2020, Android 12's should go live in the coming months. 

App Pairs for Android 12

Columbus is not the only feature reportedly being introduced in Android 12. So is App Pairs. App Pairs will allow users to launch two apps simultaneously. While a feature like this has been available on Samsung and LG phones, Android 12 will make it more widely available. 

According to 9to5Google, this feature is technically already available in Android 11, but getting it to work is clumsy. Google aims to rectify this in Android 12. 

Because of the increasing popularity of foldable phones and dual-screen phones, it's been up to manufacturers to create custom software that easily enables paired app launching. We expect to see App Pairs introduced in the developer preview of Android 12, which should be announced in the comings weeks. But as is the case with beta launches, not all features make it into the final build. 

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Imad Khan
Imad Khan

Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.