Android 12L: built for tablets and foldables

Android 12L is the release Google made for large screens. It gave tablets, foldables and ChromeOS devices a taskbar, drag-and-drop split screen and a two-column system UI. For developers it brought a new API level, 32, without a single breaking change, so nothing forced an app to target it.

12L is a feature drop for Android 12, not a new version of it. Everything Android 12 changed for apps still applies, and that note covers it.

At a glance

Google announced 12L on 7 March 2022 and released it to AOSP that week. The first build, SP2A.220305.012, went to the Pixel 3a, 4, 4a, 4a (5G), 5 and 5a. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro got their first 12L build, SP2A.220405.004, with the April update. For other makers, Google said 12L would reach tablets and foldables from Samsung, Lenovo and Microsoft “later this year”.

Before that came Developer Preview 1 on 27 October 2021, Beta 1 on 8 December 2021 with the final API 32, Beta 2 on 12 January 2022 and Beta 3 on 9 February 2022. Each one has its own part below.

The name. Google used “12L” in public and never a dessert. The code says S_V2, its comment says “S V2”, AOSP branches are called android-s-v2-*, and the SDK Manager lists the platform as Android 12L (“Sv2”). Android 12 was Snow Cone, a name Dave Burke confirmed in October 2021. “Snow Cone v2” follows from it, but neither the code nor Google’s documentation uses that name.

What it brought

• Two-column system UI. On large screens, the notification shade shows Quick Settings and notifications in two columns. The lock screen uses two columns for notifications and the clock, and setup and Settings use the space too.
• Taskbar. A taskbar on large screens launches and switches apps. Users drag an app from it to start split screen, swipe up to go home, and long-press to show or hide it.
• Split screen from Overview. A new “Split” action in Overview starts split screen with one tap.
• Lock screen controls on the side. On tablets the PIN and pattern pad sits at one side of the screen. Tapping the other side moves it there.
• Foldables. A tuned home screen grid and a smoother fold-unfold transition between the outer and inner screens.
• Spatial audio APIs. Spatializer, obtained with AudioManager.getSpatializer(), reports whether and how the device spatializes sound. AudioAttributes gained setSpatializationBehavior(), and AudioFormat gained channel masks up to 9.1.6.
• Accessible drag and drop. ACTION_DRAG_START, ACTION_DRAG_DROP and ACTION_DRAG_CANCEL let an accessibility service start a drag. The view then receives DRAG_FLAG_ACCESSIBILITY_ACTION and the system drags without animations.
• Foldable cameras. CameraCharacteristics.INFO_DEVICE_STATE_SENSOR_ORIENTATION_MAP maps each fold state to the camera sensor orientation, for logical cameras whose physical sensors differ.
• Activity embedding. Jetpack WindowManager shows two activities side by side, such as a list and its detail, with little or no refactoring. It shipped as experimental in WindowManager 1.0.0-beta03 on 27 October 2021. It runs on large screens with Android 12L or higher whose maker includes the window extensions interface.

Security and privacy

12L added no new security features of its own: Google’s list of security enhancements per release has no 12L entry. It shipped with the fixes of its own security release notes, which list 56 CVEs: 3 rated High, 52 Moderate and one with unknown severity. Builds from AOSP default to security patch level 2022-03-01.

Permissions

One new permission, and apps from the Play Store cannot get it. LAUNCH_MULTI_PANE_SETTINGS_DEEP_LINK is signature|preinstalled. It lets a system or preinstalled app open its own screen inside the two-pane Settings app with Settings.ACTION_SETTINGS_EMBED_DEEP_LINK_ACTIVITY. No runtime permission changed.

What changed for your app

Google promised no breaking changes, and 12L has no behaviour-change page of its own: its overview links to Android 12’s. What changed reaches every app on a large screen, whatever it targets:

To build against 12L, set compileSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion to 32. Use WindowMetrics from Jetpack WindowManager instead of Display.getRealSize() to size your layout.

What lasted

• Large screen work. Android 13 says it “builds on” the tablet optimizations of 12L: system UI, multitasking and compatibility modes.
• Letterboxing kept growing. Android 13 added a dialog that teaches users to move a letterboxed app or put it in split screen.
• Activity embedding became a larger API in WindowManager 1.1.0 (June 2023), with ActivityEmbeddingController and a manifest property to enable splits.
• API 32 stayed optional. Play’s deadline went from API 31 in 2022 to API 33 in August 2023. Google’s rule counts “major” releases, and 12L was a feature drop.
• Security patches for 12L ended with Android 12’s. The March 2025 Android Security Bulletin is the last to list 12L among the updated AOSP versions.

Worth knowing

• The S_V2 constant carries a line of Shakespeare in its doc comment: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.” It opens Henry V’s speech to his soldiers before Harfleur, in Act 3, Scene 1.
• On 12L, Build.VERSION.RELEASE still says 12. The build sets PLATFORM_VERSION_LAST_STABLE := 12, and source.android.com lists 12L as version 12, CTS 12.1. Check SDK_INT >= 32, never the version string.
• API 32 removed a deprecation. Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(), getExternalStoragePublicDirectory() and MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA, deprecated in Android 10, are no longer deprecated, and they still are not.
• Google counted “over a quarter billion” Android large screen devices, across tablets, foldables and ChromeOS, when it announced 12L in October 2021.