Last month Google released the first Developer Preview of Android 14 and today the company is back with the second Developer Preview. The new release includes further improvements to privacy, security and performance and continues to refine the experience on tablets and foldable devices.
After this Developer Preview, the first Beta version will arrive in April, followed by three more in the following months, according to the official Google timeline.
Android 14 Developer Preview 2 has built-in support for allowing apps access to selected photos and videos only, or access to all of them, or no access at all. You can see the new dialog for this below.
In Android 14, Credential Manager is a platform API and this allows apps to log in using passkeys. In the second DP, there are improvements to the Account Selector UI style, along with feedback-based API changes to DP1.
Apps targeting Android 14 (which will initially be a very small subset) will need to grant privileges to launch background tasks.
DP2 comes with optimizations to Android’s memory management system, improving resource usage while apps are running in the background. There will also be fewer unskippable notifications in Android 14, and there are improved APIs for app stores as well.
With regional preferences, once your device gets Android 14, you’ll be able to customize the temperature units, first day of the week, and numbering system, based on your region. So if you’re a European living in the US, you won’t be stuck with Fahrenheit anymore.
The second Developer Preview is still, as the name suggests, only recommended for app developers to use for app testing. Once the first beta arrives next month, consumers will have easier access as well. Android 14 Developer Preview 2 is installable on Google Pixel 4a 5G devices and later.
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