Google Releases First Preview Of Android 13, Here Are The Most Notable New Features And Changes

Android is the largest operating system in the world, powering over 2.5 billion mobile devices worldwide and releasing new updates every year with improvements over previous versions. With the first Developer Preview program of Android 13 newly launched by Google, app developers will receive more support, and add many improvements in privacy, Material You, language control, etc..

Note that the Developer Preview is a release for developers, providing an environment to test new features and ensure that your app works well on devices when it's officially updated. The most notable features on the Android 13 preview include:

• Updated Privacy Features:

  New system photo picker lets users share specific images and videos with apps, and new Wi-Fi permissions help reduce location data usage.

• Themed Icons:

  The dynamic app icons included in Material You will be extended to all app icons on Android 13, allowing developers to provide personalized user customization.

• Language control:

  Android 13 will introduce a new API that helps developers determine the user's preferred language, improving the experience and reducing boilerplate code.

• Developer Tools:

  Android 13 Developer Preview 1 co-refreshes Android Core Libraries to support Java 11. Many opt-in features in DP1 are also portable, so developers can can easily understand how each change affects their application.
  

When Will Android 13 Officially Release?

For Android updates, Google often discloses milestones so developers can know when the company intends to make the final SDK/NDK APIs available, along with internal APIs, and system behaviors with application. Google intends to reach the stability of Android 13 by June 2022, the minimum plan is a few weeks before the official release.

Privacy Controls In Android 13

For years, Google has focused on improving trust with user data on new versions of Android. That is quite understandable because smartphones have almost become a part of life in many ways. We use them to store important photos, chat with friends and family, and carry them with us every day. Android 12 has vastly improved privacy, and Android 13 simply extends that.

Image Picker API

First and foremost, Android adds a new system photo picker, which forms the standard and is optimized to make local or cloud-based photo sharing more secure. The system image picker is an extension that allows users to share documents within an application without requiring access to all data on the device.

Likewise, the new API can be used without requiring full permissions, and Google also plans to bring the tool to all Android 11 and later devices (except for the Android Go stripped-down version). through Google Play system updates.

Nearby device permissions for Wi-Fi

In previous versions of Android, apps that wanted to connect to nearby Wi-Fi needed to request location permissions, even if they didn't need the device's exact location to operate. Google is now separating this functionality into a new minor permission called NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES and considers it part of the NEARBY_DEVICES aggregate permissions group. Apps targeting Android 13 can instead request activation of NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES with the "neverForLocation" function tag.

App Compatibility In Android 13

As smartphones change, form factors (such as folding) pose a problem for app developers. For example, how to make an application work and seamlessly switch between completely different coefficients? How can the application reliably predict the location of the Camera? These are problems that Google has been trying to solve by making it as easy as possible for developers to query the system and find out specific parameters.

Not only that, the company has also introduced specific responsive design guidelines that developers should follow to ensure maximum compatibility on any Android device.

Update Google Play system

Google is extending Project Mainline on Android 13 to modularize core parts of the Android system. The company demonstrates that these cores can be upgraded through Google Play without having to download an update package like before, such as the photo picker API. Tablets, foldables, and Chromebook optimizations Building on the momentum of Android 12L (the Android 12 project for tablets, folding screens, and Chromebooks), Android 13 includes features optimized for the models with large screens mentioned above. Easier testing and debugging To make it easier for developers to test individual changes on Android 13, Google added some toggles in the settings that let developers enable or disable individual changes. individually change.

Download Android 13 (DP1) For Google Pixels And Other Android Devices

While waiting for Android 12L to be officially released via stable channel, the first Preview of Android 13 has been released by Google for developers. Currently, if you own Google Pixel devices (6 Pro, 5a, 5, 4a 5G, 4a, 4 or 4 XL), you can download and update by OTA or flash with Factory Image to experience first. Please.