The first Android 12 beta is out now for a range of Android devices, and early impressions are positive. Testers praise the overhauled interface and plethora of helpful tweaks and new features already available in the beta version. The enthusiastic response might have you excited for Android 12, but it’s a good idea to hold off on installing the unfinished OS for now.
While the public beta means Android 12 is finally in a state where general users can use it reliably, many features are still unfinished, missing, or prone to breaking.
For example, Android 12’s “game mode” is technically listed in the latest beta version, but you can’t use it. Other settings and UI changes are also incomplete. These unfinished elements can lead to bugs and other performance issues that most of us don’t want to deal with on devices we use every day. Even if you find Android 12 generally stable for now, the beta will receive numerous updates between now and the final release, any of which could introduce new bugs.
App compatibility is an issue with Android 12
Then there’s the lack of app compatibility. While some apps will work just fine in the latest beta, many need to be updated to run at all on Android 12 — and chances are good some of your favourites haven’t been updated to work on Android 12 yet, and likely won’t be until the OS is publicly available later this year. Even when Android 12 does finally roll out, the new interface design could cause compatibility issues for some apps on a larger scale than we normally see in the weeks following a new OS update. That’s purely speculative, but I won’t be surprised if Android 12’s launch is messier than expected.
Obviously, these points won’t matter much to die-hard Android aficionados with multiple working Android devices, developers trying out the early build for testing purposes, or journalists and early adopters eager to share their experiences with the general public — but these are probably the only people who should bother downloading the Android 12 beta for now.
Maybe you can’t stand holding off until the final version; at least considering sticking it out through the first few beta revisions in the hopes the one you do install is moe stable — but the safest choice is to wait a few more months for the final release.
If you’re still interested in trying the beta despite these caveats, you can enroll your device into the Android 12 beta now. Just remember to back up your files and photos before installing the update, because rolling back to Android 11 will erase your data.
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