Google Pixel may get face-based auto-rotate with Android 12

Google is inching closer to launching the first developer preview of Android 12. The next-generation of Android is expected to come with a feature that will make Pixel’s auto-rotate functionality a tad bit smarter.

As of now, the auto-rotate feature works in a way that your phone stays in portrait mode when you hold it straight during regular usage and it goes into landscape mode when you rotate it. Google released a handy button for rotation with the launch of Android Pie. This button appears when the phone is turned to the side and auto-rotate is turned off. It enables users to rotate the display even when the auto-rotate functionality is turned off.

Now, 9To5Google reports that Google is planning to roll out a feature for its Pixel smartphones in the Android 12 that will automatically rotate the display based on a user’s face.

The report says that the face-based version of Auto-Rotate to Pixel phones will use your front-facing camera to check if anyone is looking at the screen. If it detects that someone is indeed looking at the screen then it will try to determine in which way their head is turned. To ensure that users’ data remains secure, all of this processing will take place on users’ phones and it will not be saved or processed in the cloud.

The report also says that as of now evidence suggests that at the time of launch, this feature will be exclusively available on the Pixel smartphones. But Google could also make this feature available on all Android smartphones later with the launch of Android 12.