Android 11: Top New Features

The 2020 version of Google’s Android operating system well known as Android 11 is Stable and Official now. Users who own supported Pixel devices ( Pixel 2 and above)  should already be enjoying the latest version of Android on their device. This new version of Android should arrive soon to other manufacturers, including Oneplus, Oppo, Realme, Xiaomi, and more.

For better or worse, By the look and feel wise Android 11 is very similar to the previous version Android 10. You can’t notice much difference in it when you boot it first. And that’s why we are writing this guide for you. You will find many new features that come with this latest version making this the best operating system yet.

Keep in mind that this blog doesn’t cover every new feature of Android 11. as there are so many small updates as well a few new features geared towards the developers instead of regular users. So in this blog, you can find the top best features of Android 11. 

New Android 11 features :

• Built-in Screen Recorder

Google has been working around for a while on adding a built-in screen recorder to stock Android, and it’s finally here in Android 11. Agree with you that there are so many other third-party apps on the Play Store that can record phone screen, so the native screen recorder on Android seems to be late to the party, but it’s still exciting. After all, you won’t need to download an extra app anymore. 

You can find this Screen Recorder function in the Quick Settings tiles.  

After tapping the Screen Recorder you will get a few options before recording gets started. Options like you can choose the phone should capture the audio and you’re on-screen taps that you want to display or not. This new Android feature may look simplistic, but it gets the job done. If you want a more feature-rich screen recorder you can always go back to your favorite third-party app. but for most of the users out there this native feature should be fine.

• Bubbles and Conversations 

In Android 10 when you swipe down from the top you bring down your notification bar containing all apps notifications stacked together. Well, in Android 11, That notifications section is now split into two sections, consisting of Notifications, and Conversations. These conversations are notifications from chat apps like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Twitter, and other Messaging apps. So you know they’re more important than other notifications. This change makes it easier to find the notifications you likely care about most. In this way, you can easily find the chat conversations, and you can replay it straight away to them. By long pressing the conversation you can prioritize the specific chat that always appears on top of the section. or you can pin the conversation to ‘Bubbles’ – this is very similar to Facebook Messenger’s “Chat Heads”. After activating, a small floating Bubble with the profile avatar appears on your screen no matter which app you’re using. Tap on the bubble and it will open a window with a chat conversation where you read and send the message without opening that App. To remove the Bubble you can drag it to the bottom of the screen. 

• App Permissions

Resembling back to Android 10, one of the key feature highlights was improved controls of app permissions. Android 10 gave users more control over Applications and the resources they access. and Android 11 taking this feature a step ahead.

Now when an app asks for permission to access sensitive features like camera, microphone, location, or storage, you can choose one-time-only access to it. Android 11 gives this control to allow permission only for that specific session. so after closing the app Android will revoke that permission. Along with these other older options are still there. Android 11 will now reset apps permissions automatically that you haven’t used in a while. So if you haven’t opened an app for a longer time then Android will revoke all permissions and you will need to set permissions again the next time you open the app.

• Media Controls

Android 11 makes small changes with media controls of the notification panel. Now, it’s moved just below the Quick settings section from the notification panel. So now tapping on clear all notifications will no longer clear the media controls. And if you are using more than one media app then their control widgets in the notification panel will get stacked together, you can access them by swiping horizontally. If you don’t want media player up there any more you can swipe it away just like before.

• Smart Controls in Power Manu 

Nowadays so many people are adopting Smart IoT products in their daily lives. For a response to this growing trend, Google added some new features to Android 11 that let you control various Smart Home Products and other devices with just one touch without opening their respective App. 

These new features can be accessed by long-pressing the power button. Earlier we use to get Restart and Power off functions, these are still there at the top, but underneath you will find the changes. There is a shortcut for Google Pay card. we may not see these Google Pay cards on other OEM’s devices as it’s not compulsory for other device manufacturers to use it. Below that you will see so many buttons to control your various smart home products. 

• Scheduled Dark Mode

Google has introduced native Dark Mode with Android 10 last year. But it was so simplistic with just on-off functionality. Meanwhile, the other Android manufacturers giving control to users to choose when Dark Mode to activated with their custom skins.

Now with Android 11, users can schedule the Dark Mode with two distinct functions, Either with Sunrise-Sunset timings or with a custom schedule.

• Suggested apps – Pixel Only

When you set up Android 11 for the very first time you will get a popup window asking if you want to use an auto-generated dock. by this we get four or five apps at the bottom that selected by google, Google fills this area with apps that it thinks you want to access. These apps will change constantly depending upon the time of day. To start, it’s not that useful, but it will likely get better by time.

For now, this feature is available only for Pixel devices since it requires a Pixel launcher to work on. 

• Pin apps in the Share menu

Android’s sharing feature was one of a mess, even the top leads of Android will agree to this. But form last year or so it gets better and now with Android 11, it’s getting more useful.

Now in Android 11, we can pin the selected apps on the share sheet that we use the most, for ease of access while sharing something. This little addition allows you to control which app to appear on top of the sharing menu.

• Enterprise users Privacy

If you are using an Android smartphone provided by your organization, then probably that smartphone is a part of the Android enterprise program. That allows your organization’s IT department to keep control of those devices such as to monitor the device, issue updates and make changes, etc. as it’s property of the organization. because of this people carry a separate phone for there personal use.

Now with Android 11, You get the option to set a personal profile and work profile. in which neither one affecting the other. This will allow you to switch between both profiles with confidence. Still, there are a lot of people who feel comfortable carrying a second smartphone but this new feature might useful for many others.

Those are few Android 11 best features. If are you wondering when the Android 11 update will hit your Smartphone? Stay tuned we will update it.