Those on the Android 12 Developer Preview have begun to notice a “Google Voice Typing [Legacy]” option in their keyboard list. This is due to a mildly interesting tweak being made that moves Google Voice Typing from one app to another.
Up to now, Google Voice Typing has been included in Android as part of the core Google Search app. To access it, simply switch keyboards — usually done by long-pressing spacebar or with a dedicated button in the bottom navigation area — and choose “Google Voice Typing.”
As spotted by one of our readers, those on Android 12 Developer Preview 3 now have two options in this list, “Google Voice Typing” and “Google Voice Typing [Legacy].” With a bit of investigation from our APK Insight team, we’ve found the underlying cause for the change.
First, in the latest beta version of the Google Search app, we’ve found that they’ve included code to rename the Voice Typing keyboard to add “[Legacy],” but only on Android 12. This points to Google Voice Typing being removed from Google Search in the near future, but presumably only on Android 12+ devices.
