Android 12 could offer a Recycle Bin application, which would have the same role as our computers. Android 11 already includes an API allowing applications to provide a recycle bin functionality.
XDA Developers went to dig into the code of Android 12 in the hope of finding future features that have not yet been announced or implemented in the developer version of the new version of the operating system, available for a few weeks.
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A recycle bin in Android 12?
Surprisingly, there is mention of a recycle bin application, which could function like the recycle bin that we have known for a long time on our computers.
Going into the recycle bin, Android 12 would show us the storage volume used by files deleted but kept in the system’s depths when needed. The user would then have the option of emptying the recycle bin to save space.
Note that it is not because Google is working on such a function that it will appear on Android 12. It could be added only with Android 13 or be abandoned if the feedback regarding its usefulness is inconclusive.
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API already exists
There is already a trash can system in Android 11, but it is not directly available to the user. This is an API that applications can use to hide files rather than simply deleting them.
Few applications use this API at the moment, but a previous teardown from XDA Developers suggested that the home application Files by Google should soon use it to offer a folder of deleted files, with the possibility of restoring them.
Google seems to be focusing on storage space with the next major Android update. We already reported that a hibernation system for apps would free up space when installed on the mobile but never opened.