Home controls get a new home in Android 12
As most of you know, in Android 11, home controls are located in the power menu. Well, Google has decided to move them to the lock screen, to make them readily available. This will probably appease quite a few people, as there were a number of complaints when Google placed them in the power menu. This makes them easily visible whenever you’re on the lock screen, and arguably easier to access, without being distracting. Just to be clear, you won’t see them the moment you get on the lock screen, but you will see an icon that can open that menu.
Google Pay is also accessible via the lock screen now
If you take a look at the image provided below, you’ll see a house icon in the bottom-left corner. In the opposite corner, the bottom-right one, Google decided to place a shortcut to Google Pay.
It is worth noting that this is not the only way you can access home controls. You can also opt to do it via Quick Tiles. One would argue that the new way is much simpler, but to each its own. This change has been made to Android 12 Beta 5, but it will almost certainly make a transition to the stable build as well. We expected something like this to happen either way, and Google finally made it official. Google originally didn’t even plan to release the fifth Beta build of Android 12, but some bugs apparently crept in unexpectedly. Either way, a stable build of the software is coming soon, within a couple of weeks. As per usual, Google’s Pixel smartphones will get the update first, while others will follow. Android 12 is a major revamp of Android, the first in years. It will bring a tweaked UI design, and many new features, most of which we already used via Beta builds.
