Android 12 will make it simpler to stop useless notifications on your Wear OS smartwatch
One of the more modest however additional interesting changes seen in Android 12 Developer Preview 3 a is new level of granular control over applications that can access the notification listener service. In Android 11, it’s a all-or-nothing switch: either an helper app (like Android Wear, Android Auto, or Fitbit) can get to all your notification data, or it can’t. Beginning with A12 DP3, things are a little more subtle.
The new version of this Settings screen (Apps & Notifications>Special App Access>Notification access in A11, Notifications>Device & app notifications in A12) used to have only one toggle for all notifications. Presently it breaks them into four groups: real-time, conversations, default, and silent. The last two are simple, basic alerts for info and alerts that don’t trigger a full visual and audio alert, separately. Real-time notifications are for ongoing events, for example, phone calls or music controls. Conversations are writings, messages, or anything that is data coming from a particular human.
Allowing specific apps to access some of these categories, however not all, is a major shelter to any individual who’s attempting to smooth out the ways and spots they can be reached. I typically see these screens for Fitbit, as the application needs the audience authorization to send notifications from my telephone to my Versa 3. It’s likewise often utilized for Android Auto, or any application that responds to warnings from other applications, as Tasker.
This appears to be a genuinely finished implementation of this extra layer of notification security. While there will never be an assurance that an element from a Developer Preview will make it right to the public release, this one seems like it has a generally excellent opportunity to do as such.
For additional about Android 12, look at our ongoing series coverage here, or bookmark our regularly updated changelog and return in later. In the event that you need to introduce the engineer see on your own device, discover how in our Android 12 download manage.
