While many phones are still waiting for the arrival of Android 11, Google is already making progress on its next operating system and today we learned that the company will add a “Restricted Networking Mode” to Android 12. If the release schedule remains unchanged this year, we should have a lot more Android 12 news in February, as this is usually the announcement of the first preview for developers. This will be one of the most important updates.
Google will add interesting new features with Android 12
The code for this feature was found. It is a new restricted network mode that, once activated, will only allow certain apps with CONNECTIVITY_USE_RESTRICTED_NETWORKS permissions (a label that would be used to differentiate the apps allowed in this mode) to connect to the network.
What is Restricted Networking Mode?
What can this feature be used for? For now, this mode would only allow Google apps to connect to a network, although there are signs that other apps may have these privileges. There are no signs of including an option to allow users to create lists and add apps to grant permission, but it would be logical to offer greater versatility.
The code also does not give us further details of how this mode will be applied and whether it belongs to Android 12 or will be a later feature. However, if they make it customizable, Restricted Networking Mode would offer an alternative for people who want to have a ‘semi-airplane’ mode, allowing them to stay connected to certain apps, but restrict data transfer from others.
