Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
- Google Pixel phones suddenly have a new Android 12 install icons feature.
- Borrowed from iOS, the feature gives visual indications of install statuses for apps on the home screen.
- The subtle visual tweak could be part of Google’s “play as you download” feature.
Famously, iPhones don’t have app drawers. When you download an app from the Apple App Store, an icon heads directly to your home screen or the “Recently Added” folder there. Meanwhile, the new app’s store icon visually changes as it goes through the install process.
Android phones, though, have app drawers, so users need to elect to have apps appear on the home screen when downloaded. If you have this feature turned on for your Pixel phone, you might have noticed some subtle tweaks to how it works. Google quietly pushed out a new Android 12 install icons signifier that gives you a visual indication of an app’s install process.