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Over the years, smartphone makers have made devices taller and taller. While this has made multimedia consumption more enjoyable on mobile, it has made many phones impossible to use with one hand. To compensate, several phone manufacturers have developed software solutions to improve one-handed usability: notably Apple with its accessibility feature. Now Google is set to bring its own version of one-handed mode to Android 12.
XDA has now learned that Google has developed a one-handed mode feature to be included in AOSP, the open-source version of Android. This means that the feature will be accessible to any smartphone manufacturer using AOSP. More importantly, this means that OEMs who haven’t developed their own one-handed mode feature will be able to use Google’s software version. However, we don’t know if Google plans to force the inclusion of its version of one-handed mode on all Android 12 devices.
While we’re not sure exactly how Android 12’s one-handed mode will be designed, we do think it will be like the many OEM implementations that shrink the entire screen into a corner (for example, like the ASUS implementation shown in the picture shown.). We know that Google’s current implementation in Android 12 involves reducing the screen size to 40% of its maximum size. We also know that there will be a way to trigger the one-handed mode using the traditional 3-button mode as well as the new gesture navigation mode. Currently there are plans to add one-handed mode to Settings> System> Gesture> One-handed, which makes sense as it is triggered using a gesture (probably by swiping left / right on the navigation bar).
The addition of a one-handed mode in Android 12 comes long after many OEMs have already created their own versions of the feature. At one point, Chinese smartphone maker Huawei even attempted to submit its version of the feature to AOSP, but Google rejected its addition. We’re not sure exactly why Google rejected this release, but it’s not uncommon for Google to take its time implementing key features already present on its partners’ Android devices.
For example, Google is finally introducing a scrolling screenshot feature in Android 12, years after it was implemented by OEMs. In an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit last year, Google said it didn’t want to implement half-scrolling screenshots; the company pointed out how several OEM implementations either fail to work on certain pages or fail to stitch images together when scrolling through certain views. Likewise, Google may be putting a similar level of diligence into its one-handed mode work. In addition to shrinking and repositioning all elements of the system UI, Google must also consider how one-handed mode affects third-party apps, as its implementation will affect the entire ecosystem. Android rather than just a subset of devices.
Since we don’t have any images of Android 12’s one-handed mode, unfortunately we can’t show exactly what it will look like. However, we expect the first version of Android 12 Developer Preview to arrive later this month, so we might not have to wait long to see the feature in action. However, we are not sure if Google will include the feature in Developer Preview or even not at all in a future beta or stable release. If Google decides that the feature is still not ready for release, we may not see the feature until next year’s Android release, if at all.
Featured Image: ASUS One-Handed Mode On A ZenFone 7 Pro Running Android 11
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