Android 13 Developer Preview 1: Features and Android 13 will be released in stable version in June!

News On February 11th, Google today released the first Android 13 Developer Preview. Google says. That every day, billions of people around the world take out their Android devices to help get things done. Android is great at each and every one of them, and that’s by working with our developer community and sharing feedback to help us make Android even stronger.

Today, we are sharing with you the next version of Android, Android 13 Developer Preview 1. In Android 13, we are continuing with some important topics. Privacy and security, and developer productivity. We’ll also be rolling out some new updates to Android 12 L to help you take advantage of the over 250 million big-screen Android devices currently running.

Get full information, visit the: Android 13 developer official site .

Here are the highlights of the Android 13 Developer Preview

Privacy and security

People want an operating system and applications. whom they can rely on to handle their most personal and sensitive information. Privacy is at the heart of Android’s product principles, and Android 13 focuses on building a responsible, high-quality platform for all by providing a more secure environment on devices and giving users more control. In today’s release, we are introducing a photo picker. Which allows users to share photos and videos securely with apps. Plus a new Wi-Fi permission to further reduce the need for apps for location permissions. We recommend trying out the new API and testing the impact of these changes on your application.

Redesigned media output picker UI plus Now Playing notification upgrades

This notification shade will not be the Android Developer Preview phase regardless of the media player. This time around the media player has a brand new pause, play and skip icon. These icons are thick but appear a bit low resolution. Hinting that we may see some improvement here again very soon.

• When playing YouTube Music, the up/down indicators have been replaced with repeat and shuffle buttons. It seems it is service dependent. Because the option doesn’t show up on apps like Tidal or various podcast players. With a podcast app like PocketCast, you’ll find a playback speed toggle and a Mark Complete option.
• What’s more, the media playback output picker is brand new. Tap on the Device Output icon and there is a new floating panel. In which all recently or currently connected audio output devices are centrally placed for access. This undocked section has circular volume sliders. Which you can drag and adjust as you see fit. This may not be ideal for access on larger displays. However, this extensive material fits into your theme a bit more easily.

• Photo Picker and API – To help protect users’ photo and video privacy, Android 13 adds a system photo picker. A standard, customized way for users to securely share photos locally and in the cloud. Android’s long-standing document picker allows users to share any type of specific files with one such app. Which does not require permission to view all media files on the device. Photo Picker enhances this capability with a dedicated photo and video selection experience. Apps can use the photo picker’s API to access shared photos and videos without having permission to view all media files on the device. We plan to bring the photo picker experience to more Android users via a Google Play system update, as part of an update to the MediaProvider module for devices running Android 11 and above (except Go devices) .

• Nearby device permissions for Wi-Fi – Android 13 introduces the NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES runtime permission (part of the NEARBY_DEVICES permission group) for those apps. which manage device connections to nearby access points over Wi-Fi. Apps calling many commonly used Wi-Fi APIs will require new permissions and enable apps to discover and connect to nearby devices over Wi-Fi without requiring location permissions . Previously, location permission requirements were a challenge for those apps. Those that needed to be connected to nearby Wi-Fi devices. But actually the location of the device was not required. Apps targeting Android 13 will now be able to request the NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES permission with the “neverForLocation” flag. This will help promote privacy-friendly app design while minimizing conflict between developers.

Developer Productivity and Tools

Android 13 also brings new features and tools to developer productivity. Helping you create beautiful apps that run on billions of devices is one of our core missions. Either in Android 13 or through our modern Android development tools like your favorite Kotlin language or Jetpack’s opinionated API. By helping you work more efficiently, our goal is to reduce your development costs so you can focus on continuing to build amazing experiences. Here are some of the new content in today’s edition.

Android 13 Added Quick Settings tiles

The Quick Settings or Notification shade toggle section has received a few additional toggles for use within Android 13 Developer Preview 1. There is now a quick toggle to enable or disable one-handed mode. Display color correction and a QR code reader. Unfortunately, QR Code Reader is not enabled yet. But the toggle is likely to be enabled in future updates.

Quick Settings Placement API – Quick settings in the notification shade are a convenient way for users to change settings or take quick actions without leaving the app. For apps that offer custom tiles, we’ll make it easier for users to discover and add your tiles to quick settings. Using a new tile placement API, your app can now prompt users to add custom tiles directly to the active Quick Settings tile set. A new system dialog lets users add tiles in one step without having to leave your app, instead of going to quick settings to add tiles.

New system-wide photo picker

Although not yet used by any app. Android 13 is sure to have a new photo picker. Which will integrate both local and cloud-stored photos on your device without apps requiring additional permissions for media access. Google provided a sample of the feature in action that looks like it will be nice and clean.

Increased themed icon support

Although not immediately obvious, Android 13 Developer Preview 1 is laying the groundwork for more apps to start supporting the built-in icon themes added back in Android 12. Third party developers are now able to update their icons for support. Adaptive, monochrome icons that look right at home with your Material U home screen setup.

No app supports this feature yet. But we’re hoping that will change as the preview and subsequent betas progress.

Themed app icons — In Android 13, we’re extending Material You dynamic colors to all app icons outside of the Google app, letting users choose icons that inherit their wallpaper and other theme preferences. All your app needs to provide is a single-color app icon (for example, your notification drawable) and adjustments to the adaptive icon XML. We encourage all developers to provide compatible icons to help provide a consistent experience for opt-in users. Themed app icons were initially supported on Pixel devices, and we’re working with device manufacturer partners to bring them to more devices.

Language preference per application – Some applications allow users to select a language different from the system language to meet the needs of multilingual users. Such applications can now call a new platform API to set or get the user’s preferred language, helping reduce template code and improving compatibility when setting the application’s runtime language. For wider compatibility, we will be adding a similar API to the upcoming Jetpack library.

Faster hyphenation — Hyphenation makes wrapped text easier to read and helps make your UI more adaptable. In Android 13, we optimized the performance of hyphenation by 200%, so you can now enable it in your TextViews with little or no impact on rendering performance. To enable faster hyphenation, use the new fullFast or normalFast frequency in setHyphenationFrequency().

Programmable Shaders – Android 13 adds support for programmable RuntimeShader objects whose behavior is defined using the Android Graphics Shading Language (AGSL). AGSL shares most of its syntax with GLSL, but works within the Android rendering engine to customize painting within the Android canvas, as well as filter view content. Android uses these shaders internally for ripple effects, blurring, and stretching over rolls, and Android 13 enables you to create similar advanced effects for your apps.

OpenJDK 11 Updates — In Android 13, we’ve started work on refreshing the Android core libraries to align with the OpenJDK 11 LTS release, along with library updates and Java 11 programming language support for app and platform developers. We also plan to bring these core library changes to more devices via a Google Play system update as part of the ART module update for devices running Android 12 and above.

Google Android 12 screenshots leaked : Major UI design, Google’s Next Android OS

Application Compatibility

With each platform release, we prioritize app compatibility as we roll out new platform versions, working to make updates faster and smoother. In Android 13, we’ve opted in most app-oriented changes to give you more time, and we’ve updated our tools and processes to help you get ready faster.

• More Android updates via Google Play — In Android 13, we continued to expand our investment in Google Play system updates (Project Mainline), enabling apps to have a more consistent and secure environment across Provides new features and functionality. We can now push new features such as photo picker and OpenJDK 11 directly to users of older versions of Android via updates to existing modules. We’ve also added new modules, such as Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband, to further expand the range of core Android updatable features.
• Optimized for Tablets, Foldables, and Chromebooks – As larger-screen devices such as tablets, foldables, and Chromebooks grow, now is the time to prepare your apps for these devices and design them to fit any screen. Fully adaptive application. You can get to work with our optimization guide for tablets, then learn how to build for big screens and develop for foldable devices.
• Easier to test and debug changes — To make it easier for you to test select changes that might affect your app, we’re making many of the changes switchable again this year. With toggles, you can force enable or disable these changes individually from developer options or adb.

Platform Stability Milestones – Like last year, we’re letting you know our platform stability milestones ahead of time to give you more time to plan your app compatibility work. At this milestone, we will deliver not only the final SDK/NDK API, but also the final internal API and application-oriented system behavior. This year, we expect to reach platform stable in June 2022, and from then on, you’ll have a few weeks for final testing before the official release.

Get started with Android 13

The Developer Preview has everything you need to try out Android 13 features, test your apps, and give us feedback. For testing your application with tablet and foldable devices, the easiest way is to use the Android emulator in a tablet or foldable device configuration. For phones, you can start using the device today by mirroring the flashing system on a Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 4a, Pixel 4 XL, or Pixel 4 device. If you don’t have a Pixel device, you can use a 64-bit system image on Android Studio’s Android emulator. For more extensive testing, GSI mirroring is also available.

Once you’re set up, here are some things you should do.

• Try out new features and APIs—your feedback is critical in the early stages of the developer preview. Report issues in our tracker, or give direct feedback via surveys to selected features on the Feedback and Requests page.
• Test your current app for compatibility — Find out if your app is affected by default behavior changes in Android 13. Just install your currently published app onto a device or emulator running Android 13 and test it.
• Test your app for opt-in changes — Android 13 has opt-in behavior changes that will only be affected if your app targets the new platform. It is extremely important to understand and assess these changes as early as possible. For ease of testing, you can toggle the switches for these changes individually.

Throughout the Android 13 release cycle, we regularly update preview system images and SDKs. This initial preview is for developers only and is not intended for everyday or consumer use, so we only offer it via manual download. Once you manually install a preview build, you will automatically get over-the-air updates for all post-preview and beta builds.

Google said that with the release of our beta version, we will also invite consumers to try the Android 13 system, when we will open registration for the Android Beta program. For now, please note that Android Beta is not yet available for Android 13.

Google Android 12L features

Because Android 12L is still in beta – and not officially available in stable form – it means. That many features of the upcoming build are still technically new in Android 13. Some have made the jump, including some that have been disabled in recent beta 3 builds:

• Pixel Launcher wallpaper quick switcher
  • If you long-press on a blank space on your home screen while using the Pixel Launcher, you’ll be able to quickly switch among your five most recent wallpapers.
• Updated and improved animations
  • A whole host of the animation improvements from Android 12L are here with better notification shade expansion and much more.
• Quick split-screen launch when using picture-in-picture player
  • Although removed in beta 3, the option to quickly jump into split-screen via a dedicated picture-in-picture mode toggle is back. It’s convenient and we hope it stays.

Google Android 12 Developer Preview 2 released: One-handed mode, rounded corner UI support

In Android 13 Guest profiles can get installed app access.

If you use the Guest Profile feature on your device. So now you can gift access to any installed application on the device profile on your “main” device. Obviously, not every app is logged in for privacy and security reasons. Nor does it contain any personal information. This feature is to ensure as well as allow quick access to common applications. that guests use their own credentials.

Silent mode blocks haptic feedback Feature.

Unlike previous builds, Silent in Android 13 Developer Preview 1 literally means silent. If you like to set your phone on this cool setting. So it will also disable haptic feedback for all screen taps and touches. Swiping into the Recent apps menu, using the quick settings toggle, scrolling through the app drawer, and any number of areas are now devoid of the soft vibrations of the haptic motor.

The only places where haptics are kept in silent mode. When your device is placed on the charger. or unlocked using Pixel Imprint or the in-display fingerprint scanner. We can only assume that these are seen as ways to ensure that. that some external hardware is working or successful.

Google Android 13 is officially displayed as “Tiramisu.”

We thought that the internal sweets-based codenames for Android should never be used publicly again. But open Settings > About phone > Android version and you will see. That it is not listed as “Android 13” or even just “13” for that matter. , No, Google is officially referring to this build as “Tiramisu”. Which is great for fans of sweets. Because the Italian classic flavored with coffee and chocolate is excellent.

Quick tap gains new option.

On the Pixel 5 and newer, the quick tap gestures get a dedicated “toggle flashlight” option to help save you time and effort in this neat feature’s extensive settings.

Core functionality

OpenJDK 11 updates

Android 13 has initiated a refresh of Android’s core libraries to align with the OpenJDK 11 LTS release. Including library updates and Java 11 language support with both application and platform developers. The core library changes introduced in Android 13 will also be available to Android 12 devices via the Google Play system update in the ART mainline module.

Android 13 includes the following changes to core libraries:

• Support for the var keyword for local variables and as parameters lambdas.
• New methods in the String class:
  • isBlank()
  • lines()
  • repeat()
  • strip()
  • stripLeading()
  • stripTrailing()
• Support for Collection.toArray(IntFunction) to make it easier to adapt a collection to an array.
• Support for ifPresentOrElse(), isEmpty(), orElseThrow(), and stream() in java.util classes Optional, OptionalDouble, OptionalInt, and OptionalLong.
• Extended support for SocketOptions including re-use of sockets.
• NullReader, NullWriter, InputStream, OutputStream, and transferTo() Reader functionality which transfer read characters to a Writer.
• Added functionality for URL encoding and decoding using Charsets.
• Charset functionality for FileReader, FileWriter, PrintStream, and PrintWriter.
• New transferTo(), readNBytes(), readAllBytes(), and writeBytes() functions for ByteArrayInput or OutputStream and Input or OutputStream.
• Runtime and compiler support for java.lang.invoke.VarHandle.
• Updates java.util.concurrent to OpenJDK 11 API using VarHandle internally.

Android 13 Developer Preview 1: What’s New Feature is your Favorite?

Android 13 Developer Preview 1 has more than just surface-level changes. But this small selection includes top user-facing features. that we have found so far. Naturally, we expect more little things to appear that might have slipped through the cracks in the coming days and weeks. We have the possibility to take a deep dive into everything we added. Which includes some features that need a little work to get fully operational. Coming very soon in our full overview.

The Android 13 Developer Preview Program runs from February 2022 until the final public release for AOSP and OEMs. which is scheduled for next year. In key stages of development, we’ll provide updates for your development and test environments. Each update includes SDK tools, system images, emulators, API references, and API differences. What should you pay attention to during each milestone? See the following table to know more about it.

Timeline	Build	Type	Developer actions
February	Developer Preview 1	Early baseline build focused on developer feedback, with new features, APIs, and behavior changes.	Priority window for feedback on APIs. Explore new APIs and behavior changes and report any critical issues or requests to us during this time. Begin early app compatibility testing.
March	Developer Preview 2	Incremental update with additional features, APIs, and behavior changes.	Continue to send feedback on behavior changes and APIs. Get apps ready for consumer Beta. Continue compatibility testing, publish updates without changing targeting.
April	Beta 1	Initial beta-quality release, over-the-air update to early adopters who enroll in Android Beta.	Continue compatibility testing, watch for feedback from Android Beta users. Start early testing with targeting Android 13. Notify SDK and library developers of any issues.
May	Beta 2	Incremental Beta-quality release	Continue compatibility testing, watch for feedback from Android Beta users. Start early testing with targeting Android 13. Notify SDK and library developers of any issues.
Platform Stability
June	Beta 3	First Platform Stability milestone. Final APIs and behaviors. Play publishing opens.	Start final compatibility testing for apps, SDKs, and libraries. Release compatible versions. Continue work to target Android 13. Update SDKs and libraries and notify their developers of any issues.
July	Beta 4	Near-final build for final testing.	Release compatible versions of apps, SDKs, and libraries. Continue work to target Android 13. Build with new features and APIs.
	Final release	Android 13 release to AOSP and ecosystem.	Release compatible versions for apps, SDKs, and libraries. Continue work to target Android 13. Build with new features and APIs.

Android 13 Developer Preview release Date & Timeline

Developer Preview 1 is now available, with the latest features and changes to try with your apps. Install a system image and update the tools to get started. During this phase we’re looking for your feedback, so please let us know what you think! Visit the feedback page to report an issue or submit a feature request. The earlier we get your feedback, the more we can include in the final release.

What’s included in the Developer Preview?

The Android 13 Developer Preview program includes everything you need to test your existing apps on different screen sizes, network technologies, CPU/GPU chipsets, and hardware architectures.

SDK & NDK tools

Using Android Studio, you can download the following components through the SDK Manager:

• SDK, NDK, and tools for Android 13
• Emulator system images for mobile devices for Android 13 (64-bit only, see release notes)

We’ll provide updates to these development tools at each milestone as needed.

See Get Android 13 to get started. See the migration guide for information on how to plan testing and development to align with the Android 13 release cycle, as well as the release notes for known issues.

System images

The Developer Preview includes system images for a variety of Pixel devices that you can use for developing and testing. Visit the Downloads page to get a system image for development and testing.

If you don’t have a Pixel device, you can develop and test using an Android Emulator system image. Using Android Studio, download this component through the SDK Manager:

• Android 13 emulator system images for mobile devices (64-bit only, see release notes)

See Get Android 13 for details.

How to install the Android 13  – Flash-to-OTA updates for Pixel

The Developer Preview releases are early baseline builds for developers only. They are not suitable for daily use by early adopters or consumers, so we’re making them available by manual download and flash only. For details, see Get Android 13.

Once you’ve flashed a Developer Preview build to a supported Pixel device, you’ll automatically be enrolled in over-the-air updates of later Developer Preview and Beta builds through the final release.

Please note that the Android Beta OTA program is not supported for Developer Preview builds.

What is your favorite new feature or feature? Tell us in the comment section below!