Android 12 starts showing ‘Ongoing call’ chip for Google Phone app in the status bar

Abner Li | Aug 9 2021 - 6:13 pm PT

Android 12 brings with it a big overhaul to notifications and Quick Settings. Many parts of the redesign launched with Android 12 Beta 1, but Google is now rolling out an “Ongoing call” chip for the Phone app.

This chip appears to the right of the time as a large pill with a phone icon and time in xx:xx format from the start. Like the rest of Android 12, it adapts to your current wallpaper, while standing out against your current background. From quick testing, it’s much darker than the background for Themed icons.

Tapping simply opens the Google Phone app. Notably, this seems to replace notification Bubbles. As such, pulling down the shade reveals a redesigned notification with some of the actions that previously appeared after tapping the floating chat head. (The old one is the last image below.) Namely, you can quickly “Mute” in addition to turning the speaker on and hanging up.

Overall, this chip feels less overwhelming than a Bubble. The new approach does not get in the way of your screen and naturally fits into the status bar, while still being recognizable. For those that never liked Bubbles, it saves people from having to first swipe down on the screen to access the alert.

We’ve encountered Android 12’s Ongoing call chip on several devices today running Beta 3.1 and the latest beta version (68.0.388241074) of the Google Phone app, but not everyone seems to have it quite yet.