We got our first look at some of the user-facing changes coming in Android 12 when Google rolled out the first beta at I/O 2021. In our hands-on preview of the first Android 12 beta build, we highlighted most of these features, like the Material You design update, new animations, and more. The new animations included a bouncing overscroll effect that appeared when scrolling to the bottom of lists, new volume control slider animations, and new screen-on/screen-off animations.

Android 12 Beta 1 Hands-on: A Radical Redesign comes to Android

Additionally, the first beta build included a ripple effect animation that showed up when tapping on certain UI elements. However, this ripple animation wasn't well-received by early testers, as it appeared to be quite glitchy. Users immediately started leaving negative feedback on the Android 12 issue tracker regarding this new animation, and it seems to have caught Google's attention. As spotted by 9to5Google, the Android team has acknowledged the problem, and it plans to push improvements in subsequent beta releases.

A GIF showing the ripple animation effect in Android 12 Beta 1.

Google's official response states: "Thanks a ton for the feedback -- you'll be seeing continued updates in Beta 2, 3, and onwards to make the ripple more subtle and less distracting/glitch-feeling." Since Google will likely roll out the second Android 12 beta this month, you can expect to see an updated ripple animation in the upcoming build. It's worth noting that the new overscroll effect in Android 12 beta 1 was first spotted in Android 12 DP3. However, in the beta release, the animation was toned down to a great extent. This leads us to believe that the ripple effect may get a similar treatment in the upcoming beta releases. We'll update this post as soon as Google rolls out the updated ripple effect with a future beta release. Until then, you can check out our Android 12 hands-on review (linked above) to learn more about all the changes introduced in the first beta release.