Apple’s iOS took an age to add widgets, and it didn’t add them to the level Android did. Google’s Android OS has had widgets since the start, basically, and it seems like Google plans to expand their functionality. Android 12 may bring iOS-inspired widget stacks to the table.
Android 12 may usher in stackable widgets, similar to Widget Stacks from iOS
In iOS, you can create something called ‘widget stacks’. That basically allows you to stack a lot of widgets in the same space, in order to save space. You can go through them by swiping.
This feature is not available in Android just yet, but Android 12 Developer Preview 1 suggests that it may become soon. That particular tidbit was spotted by Mishaal Rahman from XDA Developers.
He enabled some hidden flags in Pixel Launcher which enable in-development ‘enhanced’ and ‘expanded’ smartspace. Smartspace, for those of you who don’t know, is the codename for the Pixel Launcher’s At a Glance widget.
The feature is unfinished in Android 12 Developer Preview 1
The expanded smartspace flag “expands [the] smartspace height to two rows”. This “enhanced and expanded” widget doesn’t really reveal its true purpose. You can see in the video below that it’s unfinished.
Is…is this the beginnings of a widget stack? This is an "enhanced" and "expanded" smart space. pic.twitter.com/9tnfK2kA5a
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) February 18, 2021
You can, however, swipe left and right on that widget, which leads us to believe Google is planning for swipeable widgets, inspired by iOS’ widget stacks. It remains to be seen, though, of course.
This is only the very first Developer Preview, we still have to go through several of them, and then several Beta builds before the final release comes around. We’ll see many more in-development features, and cannot be sure which of them will make it to the final build. Let’s hope this one will, as it will add yet another layer of customizability to Android.
Android 12 will have a lot to offer, it seems. Even the very first Developer Preview revealed quite a few changes, we can only imagine what will happen moving forward. Some interesting features are coming.