Clock app, Android 11 vs 12

[jim232777]

Hi all,
I have a puzzle related to the Google clock app. My wife and I both have Pixel 4a phones, and are still running Android 11.

Question 1: The clock app has a function found in the 3-dot menu called screensaver, and it sends the phone immediately to the dimmed "screensaver" style time display. I had an icon on my home screen that enabled that screen without going through the app. I can't honestly remember putting the icon there, but I'm thinking it was one of the clock widgets? A couple weeks ago, I believe when I got a monthly update, the widget disappeared (widgets going away has happened with some updates in the past.) Now I can't find the widget to replace it. Am I dreaming? Was it a widget or something else?

OK, now on to the *real* puzzle. My wife was commenting that her clock app had changed, and I looked, but mine had not. Her clock was indeed different, though. Digging deeper, I discovered that she has app version 7.1 (the version for Android 12), while I have 6.4 (the highest version for Android 11). She certainly is not the type to side-load apps, so I can't for the life of me figure out how she has the Android 12 version before her phone is updated. Any ideas?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I don't recall a native Google Clock widget that would go straight to the Screen Saver clock. I checked the Settings widget to see if it's an option there, but it isn't. Are you sure it wasn't going to the Screen Saver when you plugged the phone in or put it on a dock? That could trigger it.

Google app updates can sometimes go out in a rolling fashion, so it's not unusual for one phone to get the updates before another. Just to be sure, open your Play Store app and bring up the Google Clock app page -- is there an Update button there?