With Android 11 Beta 2, Google is also making some changes to the Share Sheet. And these are changes we’ve been waiting on for quite some time.
It’s a pretty minor change, but very useful change.
Basically what’s new here is that Google is now grouping share targets by app. So instead of seeing many options for Twitter like Tweet and Direct Message, you just see Twitter. And when you tap on Twitter, you’ll see all of the ways you can share.
It does add an extra step into sharing though
Depending on the app, this does add in an extra step into sharing. So instead of just tapping share, and then Tweet. You’ll now have to tap on share, then Twitter then Tweet to finally share it as a tweet. For most people, it’s not going to be that big of a deal, but it is going to result in some adjustments to muscle memory.
This does clean up the share sheet quite nicely. Making it easier to navigate and such, which is always a good thing. Especially if you are one that has a lot of apps installed on your smartphone. Particularly apps that can share.
Now, if you do not want to do that extra step every time you want to share something, you can long press on the app within the share sheet. And you’ll be able to pin one of the targets if you need to. So for Twitter for example, you can pin the Tweet or Direct Message targets to the share sheet. So that’s one less tap you’ll need to make.
With Android 10 the share sheet got faster, Android 11 the share sheet is getting cleaned up
Android 10 saw the biggest change to the share sheet in years. Google completely rebuilt the share sheet, making it much faster than before. As Google was using some very old code for the share sheet, which is why there was that long lag when you clicked share. In Android 10, the share sheet got faster and a new look.
Now in Android 11, Google is cleaning up the share sheet. Making it easier to find apps that you want to share too. Google is keeping the row of frequently contacted people at the top, followed by frequently used targets below that. And at the bottom are all of the apps that you can share too.
For a lot of people, this change won’t even be noticeable. But those power users of the share sheet, will definitely notice this change.
