Scrolling screenshots have long been a landmark feature of Android. Or, at least, of most OEM skins. It may seem like a strange omission and you might not even know this if you haven't used a Pixel smartphone or a stock Android phone as of recently, but while scrolling screenshots are a standard feature of skins like MIUI, OxygenOS, One UI, ColorOS, and many more Android skins, it's notably absent as a native feature, and it's thus omitted on stock Android. But this article is not meant to keep you scratching your head thinking about why that is. This article is to tell you that, with Android 12, Android is finally getting scrolling screenshots natively!

This change was found by our very own Mishaal Rahman, and if you're an early adopter trying to look for the feature and you haven't been able to spot it, we don't blame you. Right now it's a hidden feature and after using it, we can immediately see why that is: it's rough around the edges right now. Of course, we're on the very first developer preview, so as you might expect, it's going to take a while before it's refined and actually works properly (if it does make it to release).

Having the feature implemented natively into Android, even if it's not particularly a new idea, is still huge news. Not only will Pixel users be able to finally take advantage of taking scrolling screenshots (which allow you to capture more information into one screenshot without having to take several of them), but those few OEM skins that don't have this feature will be getting it as well, so widespread adoption of this feature will be in order after the new version of Android is officially out in the wild. The final version of Android 12 should be ready in Q3 2021, but you can grab it right now if you have a supported device. We don't really recommend installing this in its current state as your daily driver, though.