Android 11 power menu leak shows new smart home integration

Android 11 has had four preview releases so far, but they’ve been stripped of many features that we know are in development and just haven’t seen in a public build yet. One such feature is a revamp to the power menu, which has been getting code drops for smart home controls and credit cards for some time now. The near-final design of the new power menu appears to have leaked, thanks to XDA Developer’s Mishaal Rahman.

Rahman shared two low-res screenshots showing a dramatically different power menu than what Android has typically had. What was just a simple four-option overlay has become a full-screen interface packed with buttons. The usual “Power,” “Restart,” “Screenshot,” and “Emergency” buttons have shifted to the top of the screen, and below that is a carousel of credit cards from Google Pay. Below that are “Quick controls” which are smart home controls that are most likely sourced from the Google Home app.

The Quick Controls are the major new feature on the power menu. The screenshots appear to show options for smart lights, door locks, thermostats, cameras, and smart blinds, all of which are products you can currently access through the Google Assistant, the Google Home app, and Google Smart Displays. If you’re on a phone and don’t want to use voice commands, your only other option is to dig through the Google Home App, which can be cumbersome. This menu, which would be brought up just by long-pressing the power button, would be considerably faster.

Originally, we would have heard a lot more about Android 11 in May, when Google I/O was originally scheduled, but Google I/O was canceled due to the coronavirus. Google’s second date for Android 11 news was June 3’s online-only “Android 11 Beta Launch Show,” but over the weekend that event was delayed in light of the ongoing protests in the United States. We’re still waiting for Android 11 Unveiling Date #3, which hopefully will stick.