Android 12 Beta 3 reveals new URL sharing feature

Android 12’s official third beta was released on July 14 and brought a load of new features to the operating system, such as Permission Group Lookup, AppSearch, and Game Mode—but one little feature was skipped over in the otherwise detailed release notes. 

This hidden gem is designed to make it much easier to copy as well as share URL links directly from your phone. Until now, the only way to do so was select up the URL in the search bar, choose “Copy,” then head over to any messaging app and share it there. It’s a rather cumbersome process for something some of us tend to do quite often throughout the day.

Although it went unannounced with the official Beta 3 release, Google later published some developer documentation, which was picked up on by XDA Developers. They’ve consequently posted all the details and screenshots we need to know all about the upcoming feature without DIY downloading it onto a personal device (which is highly discouraged for non-developers, as it can wreak havoc on your phone).

The new Android feature now allows you to instantly copy any URL link from the Recent Apps Overview screen. According to XDA’s research, it isn’t just Chrome that has access to the handy sharing feature, but any other third-party app that contains a web UI recognized by the OS as well. 

Android 12 will be able to locate and extract the web links, and when you go to Recent Apps Overview (by tapping the Home Button and swiping upward), you will see a file sharing icon in the top right of the app square. Once tapped, the icon will reveal the full URL, giving you the option to either copy or share it right then and there, as seen in XDA’s screenshots above.