Google today released the first beta of Android 14, following two developer previews in February and March. This means you can now easily test upcoming software even if you’re not a developer, simply by registering your compatible Pixel device on the Android Beta website.
Once you do that, Android 14 Beta 1 will arrive as an over-the-air update. Please note that if you are already enrolled in the Android 13 QPR Beta program with a device that is also supported in Android 14, you will automatically receive the update to Android 14 Beta 1 with no action required. Also keep in mind that this is a beta version and therefore, bugs and problems are inevitable.
This beta will be followed by another one in May, according to Google’s release schedule. Then, starting in June, there will be two “Platform Stability” releases (don’t call them Release Candidates, but think of them that way).
In Android 14, the gesture navigation experience includes a prominent back arrow when interacting with apps, in order to improve the understanding and usefulness of back gestures, Google says. This arrow also complements your wallpaper or device theme.
Apps can add custom actions to the system’s share sheets they call, and the system itself uses multiple app signals to determine the ranking of direct share targets. Hopefully, that means direct share goals will be more hit than miss in the future.
Android 14 enhances the per-app language preferences, introduced in Android 13, by allowing for dynamic customization of the set of languages displayed in the per-app language list. The keyboards will also know the current app’s UI language, presumably so they can base automatic switching of input languages on that if they want to.
Finally, Accessibility Services will not have visibility of certain views unless they claim to help users with disabilities (and these claims will be verified by Google Play Protect for apps in the Play Store).
Start a new Thread