Android 12 finally added native support for scrolling screenshots, allowing users to take full screenshots of web pages and documents. And with Android 12L, the feature is getting even better.

Of course, Android 12 isn't the first to introduce scrolling screenshots; the feature has been an integral part of other OEM skins such as MIUI and ColorOS for years. However, Google's implementation of scrolling screenshots differs from that of other skins in that it's based on Views rather than image stitching. This View-based implementation has its advantage over the image stitching technique, namely in terms of speed and reliability. But this approach also makes it less versatile as the feature may not work properly with apps that don't have a View-based UI. In addition, it also doesn't work with WebViews, a system component that allows developers to display web pages inside their apps. Thankfully, Android 12L addresses this issue.

As spotted by Esper's Mishaal Rahman, Android 12L adds scroll capture support for WebViews. That means it's now possible to take full-page screenshots of the content displayed in a WebView. As you can see in the screenshots below, when you open a link in a WebView, Android 12L now shows a "capture more" button at the bottom to let you take a scrolling screenshot. This option doesn't appear on devices running Android 12.

An example of a WebView is Twitter opening an external link (i.e., a webpage) in a browser window. A WebView is basically an embedded browser that an application can use to load web pages.

Android 12L has started rolling out to the Google Pixel 3a series, Pixel 4 series, and Pixel 5 lineup. The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will get the update later this month. The latest version brings several UI refinements and features for large screen devices such as foldables and tablets, including a two-column layout for the notification shade and lockscreen, Activity Embedding, improved multitasking experience, and so on.


Source: (1) Esper, (2) AOSP