Google rolled out the Android 12 Beta 3 with a range of new features and tweaks. Unfortunately, while it mentioned all of them in a blog post, it missed talking about a key feature – URL sharing to the recent apps.
This new feature will let users share the URL of the latest tab (of a browser) or the screen of an app to the recent apps list. Users can check the URL and send it to the desired contact in any supported apps on their device.
URL Sharing in Android 12
Google is rolling out Android 12 fresh Beta updates to eligible devices, and if you’re one of them, be glad. There are a host of new features covering privacy to productivity and general functionality.
The Beta 3, which was rolled lately, has replaced the Pixel Theme integration in Android OS with a new dynamic theming system of Android 12. And this wasn’t liked by many since they miss deep customization of icons and themes.
Yet, Android provides better overall flexibility than the previous iterations. And one of them is the URL sharing of a recent app. Though Google missed explaining this feature in the Beta 3 blog post, a documentation note gave an adequate glimpse of this.
As per it, apps that can provide a web UI and override the onProvideAssistContent method of Activity Class can use the Assistant to generate and extract the URL of an app and allow users to copy and share it.
In simple words, apps in the recent apps list can have a URL generated of their latest screen and be shared. As seen in the screenshot above, a link generating icon was set on the top right corner of the app tab, and tapping on it will show the full URL of that screen (or page).
Users can then choose to copy or share the URL with their contacts in various supported apps, right from their recent apps list. This eliminates switching apps and taking multiple steps.
