Android 14 can automatically add a URL if you share a screenshot of a web page
Added 2023-08-22 17:12:44 +0000 UTCRaise your hand if you've ever done this: You took a screenshot of a webpage to send to a friend or colleague but you didn't also send the link along with it. Maybe you wanted to only show them a snippet from the page, so a screenshot was the quickest way to share that information. Whatever the case may be, they ask you for the link so they can read the full post or share it with others. Instead of choosing whether to share a screenshot of a web page or the URL to that page, Android 14 is preparing to let you do both at the same time.
Soon, when you take a screenshot of a page and then quickly tap the share button, Android may automatically insert a deep link to the page that you took a screenshot of. This uses the same API behind the recents URL sharing feature on Pixel and ASUS phones, which means it works with apps like Chrome and YouTube. Currently, however, the code to add the deep link to shared screenshots is disabled unless the SystemUI flag called "SCREENSHOT_METADATA" is set to true. This flag is currently set to false by default outside of "teamfood" users, ie. Googlers who are beta testing Android builds, so I had to manually enable it to record the video attached to this post.
That's it? Yeah, this is a short post/small discovery. I do have another finding that I'm debating about posting, but my main focus right now is on the upcoming AOSP release of Android 14 as well as the subsequent Android 14 QPR betas. I have a lot planned for the latter, so stay tuned if you want to see what Google's cooking up for their big December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop!
