Monday, June 6, 2022

Android 13 “Tiramisu”: Everything we know so far about Google’s next big update!

The most exciting thing about a big Android update is being able to follow a predictable pattern of releases to get a taste of all the new features. Google’s Android 12 update marked the biggest visual redesign of the operating system since Android 5 Lollipop thanks to Material You. The new design philosophy along with an exhaustive list of new features makes Android 12 look and feel radically different from previous iterations. While the current version of Android is still in the process of rolling out to all devices, we already have our eyes set on the next big update — Android 13. We’ve already received two developer previews and two beta releases of Android 13, so there’s a ton we’ve learned about the new OS. Here’s everything we know so far about Google’s next big update!

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What’s Android 13 called?

Android 13 tiramisu

Google ditched its dessert naming scheme for Android two years ago with Android 10’s brand redesign. The use of dessert names, however, has continued for the company’s development teams internally. Android 11, for instance, was internally called “Red Velvet” while Android 12 is internally known as “Snow Cone”. Similarly, Android 13 is called Tiramisu. Google is no longer keeping it a secret as it was found in one of the commits on the AOSP Gerrit back in July last year.

For those of you who are curious, these have been the dessert name (internal or public) of all the Android versions so far:

  • Android 1.5: Cupcake
  • Android 1.6: Donut
  • Android 2.0: Eclair
  • Android 2.2: Froyo
  • Android 2.3: Gingerbread
  • Android 3.0: Honeycomb
  • Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich
  • Android 4.1: Jelly Bean
  • Android 4.4: KitKat
  • Android 5.0: Lollipop
  • Android 6.0: Marshmallow
  • Android 7.0: Nougat
  • Android 8.0: Oreo
  • Android 9: Pie
  • Android 10: Quince Tart
  • Android 11: Red Velvet Cake
  • Android 12: Snow Cone
  • Android 13: Tiramisu

For what it’s worth, we already know what Android 14 “U” might be called. Some of the first commits relating to Android 14 that popped up on the Android Gerrit have revealed the codename “Upside Down Cake” for the next version of Android.

Android 13 release date

Google hasn’t announced a release date for Android 13 yet. That being said, we do have a release timeline, according to which we’ll get at least two more beta builds before the release candidate takes its shape for a stable launch sometime in Q3 2022. Here, take a look:

It is, however, worth pointing out that things could drastically change between now and August as the final rollout depends on the stability and compatibility of beta releases preceding it. Google is planning to hit the “platform stability” milestone in June 2022, allowing developers to prepare for the rollout of final SDK/NDK APIs, along with final internal APIs and app-facing system behaviors. In case you’re wondering, Android 12 hit platform stability in August 2021 and the final version was released a couple of months later in October.

Google Developer Preview program for Android 13 started in February 2022 and it’ll run until the final public release to AOSP and OEMs arrives sometime in Q3 2022.

Android 13 Tiramisu Developer Preview Program timeline

We’re currently in the beta release stage of the Android 13 rollout and the company recently released the second beta at Google I/O 2022. We expect the final Android 13 release to happen in the fall, around the Pixel 7 series launch, but we suggest you keep an eye on this space for more information.

Android 13 Developer Preview

We got a taste of Android 13 “Tiramisu” for the first time on February 10, 2022, when Google started rolling out the first Developer Preview release. Unlike last year, we didn’t get a Developer Preview 1.1 patch for Android 13. Instead, we directly received the Android 13 Developer Preview 2 on March 17, 2022.

As the title “Developer Preview” implies, these releases are intended for usage by developers only. It lays the groundwork for the next iteration of the world’s biggest operating system and allows app developers to test out new features and begin platform migration leading up to the final release. For us, these preview builds gives a glimpse of what’s to come in the future with a stable release. We’ve detailed all the new features and functionalities that arrived with the Android 13 Developer Preview 1 update in the following sections, so be sure to check it out.

Android 13 Beta

Google skipped the Developer Preview 3 for Android 13 and exited the “developer preview” stage with the first release of Android 13 Beta 1 on April 26, 2022. The second Android 13 Beta release arrived as a part of Google I/O 2022 on May 11, 2022. These beta releases, though they’re more polished than the developer preview rollouts, may still have some critical bugs and they don’t necessarily represent the final form of the release candidate. Google is expected to release Android 13 Beta 3 and Beta 4 updates in June and July, respectively, and we expect those releases to be much more stable.

That’s all the official Android 13 development we’ve seen so far, but we’ll continue to update this space with more information as new builds are rolled out to the public. As we mentioned earlier, we’re expecting at least two more betas before we get our hands on the release candidate in or around August 2022.

Will my device get Android 13?

Google’s Pixel smartphones are amongst the first ones in line to receive Android 13 “Tiramisu” when it comes out later this year. There’s no way to tell when the non-Pixel devices will receive the Android 13 update as it largely depends on individual OEMs to decide how much time they want to spend on developing their UX skins. It is safe to assume that smartphones with lighter UX skins like ASUS’ Zen UI will receive the Android 13 update before the relatively heavier skins such as Xiaomi’s MIUI. We’ll have more clarity on the update roadmap from manufacturers closer to or after the stable Android 13 rollout.

For now, though, Google has opened the doors to Android 13 Beta for some non-Pixel devices through Developer Preview programs. You can join the Android 13 party right now to get a taste of what’s to come in the future if you have one of the eligible devices mentioned below:

Here’s every device currently eligible for the Android 13 Beta

  • Google Pixel 6/6 Pro
  • Google Pixel 5/5a
  • Google Pixel 4/4 XL
  • Google Pixel 4a/4a 5G
  • ASUS ZenFone 8
  • Vivo X80 Pro
  • Lenovo P12 Pro
  • OnePlus 10 Pro
  • Xiaomi 12
  • Xiaomi 12 Pro
  • Xiaomi Pad 5
  • Oppo Find X5 Pro
  • Oppo Find N (China only)
  • ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  • Realme GT2 Pro
  • AQUOS sense6
  • Camon 19 Pro 5G
  • Nokia X20

We’ll continue to add more devices to this list if/when they’re eligible to receive the Android 13 beta update. If you don’t have a Pixel phone or one of the aforementioned OEM devices, then you can try the Android 13 beta by installing the Generic System Image (GSI).

Where do I download Android 13 Beta from?

We’ll update this section with links to download the stable Android 13 packages once they’re made available to the public. In the meantime, you can check our dedicated article to find the latest download links for all the Android 13 builds so far. You can find the correct package for your eligible device from the list, manually install it, and try the new software.

How to install Android 13 Beta?

Once you have downloaded the correct package for your eligible smartphone, you can give Android 13 a shot right now by following a few additional installation steps. We suggest you head over to our Android 13 installation guide to learn more about the process in detail.

Warning: The preview/beta releases are intended for developers only, so we don’t recommend installing them on your daily driver. These early builds may have some system-breaking bugs and other instabilities. It’s also highly recommended that you back up your data before proceeding. Users are advised to exercise caution.

What’s new in Android 13?

The Android 13 update may not be as big as the Android 12, but it still brings a host of new features and changes. We already had a chance to check out many of these new features thanks to the developer preview builds and beta releases, but many unannounced changes are still lurking under the hood. We’ll try our best to highlight every change leading up to the beta 2 update so far, but it’s safe to say that a complete list of all the features will only be available after we get our hands on the final build.

Google has released two developer preview builds and two beta builds of Android 13 so far. We’re about to dive into a long list of features, some of which are more monumental than others. The company also tends to ship out a lot of hidden features with these builds. We’ll include some of the important ones which we think are worth mentioning under each section for now before we add more details leading up to the final release.

Android 13 Developer Preview 1: Announced features

As we mentioned earlier, the Android 13 Developer Preview 1 build was released on February 10, 2022. Here’s a quick look at some of the important features that caught our attention:

Android’s Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband stacks are now mainline modules

Google announced that it will make Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband stacks mainline modules in Android 13. This allows the company to push new Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband features and security patches specific to these components without depending on OEMs to roll out a software update. For the uninitiated, this is a part of Google’s Project Mainline that allows it to take charge of critical framework components and system applications.

Faster Hyphenation

Hyphens can be inserted when the text reaches the end of a line in a TextView or a container. It’s essentially a line break to make the text wrap around the next line. Android can handle hyphenation for you, but it comes at a performance cost. As a result, it’s off by default. With Android 13, however, Google says it has improved this feature with up to a 200% performance boost. This means developers can now enable hyphenation in their TextViews with little to no impact on rendering performance.

Nearby device permission for Wi-Fi

Before Android 13, the apps that needed to connect to nearby Wi-Fi devices had to request location permission. This was a redundant request because the app didn’t really need the device’s location to function. Google is changing that now with Android 13 by splitting that functionality into new runtime permission called NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES. The developers targeting Android 13 for their apps can now request the NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES permission with the “neverForLocation” flag instead.

OpenJDK 11 updates

As we mentioned in our Android 13 DP1 coverage, Android 13’s core libraries are brought up to date to the most recent LTS version of OpenJDK 11. We’re looking at both library updates and Java 11 programming language support for app and platform developers. Google also noted that these changes will be backported to Android 12 devices through an update to the ART module.

New quick settings tiles

Another interesting addition to the Android 13 DP1 build is the new set of quick settings tiles. The company added a bunch of these including one or scanning QR codes, toggling color correction, enabling one-handed mode, and more.

Tile placement API

Note: As a part of new API changes to Android 13, Google is also adding a new tile placement API that’ll let apps prompt users to directly add their custom tile to the set of active Quick Settings tiles.

Per-app language preferences

Multi-lingual users can choose their preferred language in Android 12’s Settings app under the System > Languages & input. The language settings, however, are applied system-wide right now, which may not be ideal for those who want to use some apps in one language, and other apps in another language. Android 13 changes this with the help of a new platform API. Users can simply head over to Settings > System > Languages & input > App Languages to set their preferred language for each app.

Themed app icons

Google introduced an “experimental” themed icons feature in their Theme Picker app that shipped with Android 12. It was very limited in nature as a beta feature, but Google has updated the AdaptiveIconDrawable API to support themed app icons in Android 13. With this, the app developers are now actively encouraged to provide compatible icons to allow users to customize their home screens better.

Android 13 material you themed icons

In addition to these, Google also added a new photo picker API that can be invoked without requiring access to all photos on the device, programmable shaders, and more. You can check out our Android 13 DP1 coverage to learn more about some of these changes in detail.

Android 13 Developer Preview 1: Unannounced changes

Google, as we mentioned earlier, also ships out a lot of unannounced changes with each new Android build. Let’s take a quick look at some of those hidden features that were discovered within the Developer Preview 1 build:

Two home screen layouts for the Pixel Launcher

Android 13 DP1 added support for multiple home screen layouts on Pixel phones, allowing the Pixel launcher to support two independent layouts. In addition to the standard layout, some users were able to trigger a large screen layout by setting the DPI on their Pixel phone to 600 or higher.

Clipboard auto-clear feature

Another interesting feature that didn’t make it to the official announcement post is the new clipboard auto-clear. Android 13 brings a new clipboard auto-clear feature to delete the primary clip from the global clipboard after a set amount of time, much like Gboard. What’s more interesting is that this new feature in Android 13 also gives you an option to change the duration after which the clip is cleared.

New user profile switcher

The Android 13 DP1 build ships with a new keyguard profile switcher that appears as a drop-down menu on the lock screen PIN/password/pattern entry page. This will allow users to switch profiles even before unlocking the device. The keyguard profile switcher is said to be disabled by default, but here’s what it looks like when enabled:

Android 13 keyguard profile switcher Android 13 keyguard profile switcher

Privacy dashboard with longer data retention

Android 13’s DP1 build introduced a new “show 7 days” button within the privacy dashboard that will show permissions access data from the past 7 days. In case you’re wondering what’s new, the original privacy dashboard feature that was introduced with Android 12 only shows data from the past 24 hours. This feature, however, isn’t enabled by default in Android 13 DP1, although that may change with the future builds leading up the final release.

New menu option

LED flash brightness control API

The Android 13 DP1 build introduces two new APIs to the CameraManager class — getTorchStrengthLevel and turnOnTorchWithStrengthLevel. Simply put, these new APIs will let users adjust the brightness of their phone’s flashlight, like the custom Android skins from some OEMs already do.

Hub mode for tablets

The last one in the series of announced changes in the Android 13 DP1 build includes hints about a new Hub Mode for tablets. This new mode will let users share apps between profiles without borrowing sign-in data or switching between profiles. Notably, the Hub Mode will also let users set up “trusted networks”, thereby preventing others from accessing shared apps/data unless connected to the specified network.

Android 13 Developer Preview 2: Announced features

Android 13 Developer Preview 2 was released on March 17, 2022, and it added a bunch of new features and lots of improvements over the previous developer preview. Let’s take a look at the changes that were officially announced with the rollout:

Notification permission

If you hate getting too many notifications on your phone from unwanted apps, this feature is going to be your savior. Android 13’s DP1 build comes with new runtime permission for sending notifications from an app. The apps that are targeting Android 13 will need to request permissions from the user to push notifications. Google says it’s actively encouraging developers to target Android 13 as early as possible and request the notification permission for their respective apps.

Android 13 Developer Preview 2 notifications permission

This is going to be a great feature because it directly puts the end-users in charge of picking the apps that they want to see notifications from. You’ll soon be able to stop a random application from sending you notifications, including promotions.

Developer downgrade permissions

Android 13 is introducing a new API that will allow developers to downgrade previously granted runtime permissions that are no longer needed by an updated version of the app.

Improved Japanese text wrapping

Android 13 DP1, as we mentioned earlier, introduced improvements to text wrapping with faster hyphenation. The company is making more improvements with the DP2 build, specifically for Japanese text this time. The TextViews can now wrap text by Bunetsu, the smallest unit of words that’s coherent, instead of by character. This should make way for some polished and readable Japanese apps. Developers can enable android:lineBreakWordStyle=”phrase” with TextViews to take advantage of this.

android 13 japanese textview developer preview 2

Improved line heights for non-Latin scripts

Google has improved support for non-Latin scripts such as Tamil, Burmese, Telugu, and Tibetan in Android 13. The new build now uses line height that’s adapted for each language, thereby preventing clipping and also the positioning of the characters.

android 13 developer preview 2 text height

MIDI 2.0

Android 13 adds support for the new MIDI 2.0 standard, including the ability to connect MIDI 2.0 hardware through USB. For the uninitiated, MIDI 2.0 offers improvements to the resolution for controllers, support for non-Western intonation, and more expressive performance using per-note controllers.

Bluetooth LE Audio support

Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) audio promises lower power consumption and higher audio quality using the low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3). There are a good amount of products on the market with hardware that support BLE Audio, so we’re glad to see Google adding support for LE Audio in Android 13.

Color vector fonts

Android 13 can render COLR version 1 fonts, a new and highly-c0mpact font format with support for color grading. The Android 13 DP2 build also updates the system emoji to the COLRv1 format. You can read more about COLRv1 in the Chrome announcement.

New Foreground Services (FGS) Task Manager

Android 13 DP2 includes a new Foreground Services (FGS) Task Manager which shows a list of apps that are currently running a foreground service. It also lets users stop foreground services regardless of the target SDK version. The new “Active Apps” list can be accessed by swiping down on the notification drawer and tapping on the new icon next to the Settings cog. Tapping on it will open a card with the names of the apps, time spent active in the foreground, and also a Stop button. It is, however, worth pointing out that stopping an app via the FGS Task Manager doesn’t have the same effect as closing an app from the recent screen or using the “Force Stop” option. You can learn more about this particular feature right here.

Android 13 FGS Task Manager

The Android 13 Developer Preview 2 build also brings a ton of other developer productivity improvements too. We suggest you check out our Android 13 DP2 coverage to learn more about those announcements in detail.

Android 13 Developer Preview 2: Unannounced changes

Much like the first developer preview, the Android DP2 build was also full of many hidden features that weren’t a part of Google’s official announcement. Here, take a look:

App drawer in the taskbar

Google added a taskbar to the bottom of some large-screen devices, including some tablets and foldable phones as a part of one of the Android 12L updates. The same taskbar is also seen in the Android 13 DP2 build, but it comes with an additional icon that lets you open the app drawer.

Android 13 taskbar

Credit: Mishaal Rahman

Updated media controls and output picker

Along with a slew of new features and API changes, the second Developer Preview of Android 13 also came with updated media controls. Android 13’s media controls are still located between the quick settings menu and the notification panel, but the widget itself is a lot bigger now. While this means fewer taps to control your media, it also leaves lesser room for notifications. Notably, the updated media control also makes it easier to pick an output. The new output picker is now accessible by tapping the button at the top-right of the media controls, and it shows a list of all available output devices along with a “pair a new device” button.

Android 13 media player Android 13 output picker

A new clipboard popup

Google tweaked the screenshot functionality in Andriod 11 by adding an overlay that gives you a thumbnail preview, a share button, and an edit button. The company is now expanding this concept to clipboard content in Android 13. Now, every time you copy a text or an image, the new clipboard overlay will appear in the bottom left corner bearing a preview of the copied content along with an edit button. If the copied content contains any actionable information, then you’ll see an additional button with an option to open it with an associated app. If you copy map coordinates, for instance, then you’ll see a button to open that particular location in Google Maps.

Android 13 clipboard overlay

Note: Even though the new clipboard popup feature was spotted in Android 13’s DP2 build, it wasn’t enabled until the beta 1 release in April 2022.

Wallpaper effects generation API

The wallpaper effects generation API is essentially a new device personalization feature that will allow users to apply various fun effects to their wallpapers. This is a work-in-progress feature for now, but we expect it to be ready for the final build later this year. It’s hard to tell what this looks like or how it helps the users to customize their wallpapers because it’s disabled for now. Notably, there’s also a wallpaper dimming feature that’s expected to ship with the final build. This particular feature will allow you to dim the brightness of the wallpaper without changing the device brightness itself. The WallpaperEffects API is open to OEMs, meaning we might end up seeing a wallpaper customization feature in custom Android skins too.

Control smart home devices without unlocking

Google added a Device Controls Quick Settings tile and a lock screen shortcut in Android 11 to let users control their smart home devices without opening an app. But to use those controls via the quick settings tile or the lock screen shortcut, users first had to unlock their devices. In Android 13, however, apps can let users control their smart home devices without having them unlock their devices. It’s worth mentioning that this particular feature will not give users the option to select which Device Controls are available when their phone is locked. Google has added the isAuthRequired method to the Control class, and if it returns “true”, then users can interact with the control without authentication. Here’s a quick video to show this particular API in action:

Note: The new “Control from locked device” toggle was rolled out for all users only with the Android 13 beta 1 release in April 2022.

Granular vibration slider

Android 13 comes with a granular vibration slider for different vibration scenarios including alarms, phone calls, notifications, and more. Many Android devices allow you to change the vibration intensity of phone calls and notifications, but there’s no additional granularity. Additionally, you can also enable an option with which your device will vibrate before gradually ringing when you get a phone call.

A new search bar in Pixel launcher

The Pixel launcher that ships with Android 13 DP2 come with an updated search bar. Once enabled, this search bar can be accessed via both the home screen as well as the app drawer, and it can pull results for widgets, saved screenshots, Google Search, and more. This updated search bar is expected to make it a lot easier for people to search for items on their devices. Being able to search for an image without having to open the Google Photos app or the file directory, makes it that much more convenient. This new search bar is expected to ship with the final build of Android 13 or perhaps sooner in a Pixel Feature Drop.

Pixel Launcher search Pixel Launcher search Pixel Launcher search

Support for Wi-Fi 7

IEEE 802.11be or Wi-Fi 7 as we know it, is the next-generation of Wi-Fi standard that promises to deliver incredibly fast speeds and very low latency. The first set of Wi-Fi 7 products are expected to make its way into the market by the end of this year or early next year. Well, the good news is that Android 13 has added preliminary support for Wi-Fi 7. Android 13’s DeviceWiphyCapabilities class has 802.11be and 320MHz in its list of standards and supported channel width, respectively.

More Material You color options

Google introduced dynamic colors in Andriod 12 as one of the key features of its new Material You design language. Google’s theme engine codenamed “Monet” generates a rich palette of pastel colors that are derived from your wallpapers. These colors are then applied to different parts of the system for a more unified look. The Material You engine already had a long list of colors in Android 12 but it looks like Google is making room for five additional styles called TONAL_SPOT, VIBRANT, EXPRESSIVE, SPRITZ, RAINBOW, and FRUIT_SALAD.

Android 13 EXPRESSIVE color style Android 13 SPRITZ color style Android 13 VIBRANT color style

Bandwidth throttling option for developers

Android 13 is finally adding a highly-requested feature for developers who want to simulate slow network conditions for their apps. There’s now a new setting in Android 13’s developer options that lets developers set a bandwidth rate limit for all networks capable of providing Internet access. It’s called “network download rate limit” and it has six different options to choose from, ranging from “no limit” to “15Mbps.”

Revamped screen saver

Google added screen savers to Android back in Android Jelly Bean. It’s been a good few years but the screen saver never really took off nor did it receive a significant overhaul. That seems to be changing with Android 13 as the DP2 build seems to have introduced a lot of new screen saver-related codes. It appears as though Google is working on revamped screen savers that could display additional information overlays, similar to complications on Wear OS. Esper‘s Mishaal Rahman managed to enable the hidden complications. In addition to “Colors”, “Clock”, and “Photos” screen savers, you can also activate complications to see ‘At A Glance’ widget, date and time, weather, and battery info overlayed on top of the screen saver.

Multiple eSIM support

Android 13 DP2 build reportedly includes an implementation of Multiple Enabled Profiles (MEP) for enabling multiple SIM profiles on a single eSIM. This works by splitting the single physical data bus between the modem and eSIM chip into multiple logical interfaces that are multiplexed on a single physical interface. eSIM modules, in case you don’t know, take up less space within the device, leaving more room inside the chassis for things like a larger battery, better camera hardware, and more. The new functionality could lead to wider eSIM support across phones but it may take a while as most carriers still don’t support eSIM.

Game loading time improvements

Android 13 adds a new method called setGameState to the GameManager API that can be used to send a loading time hint to the power HAL to activate the new GAME_LOADING mode and boost CPU performance. While this may positively impact game loading times, it remains to be seen how OEMs will tune the CPU performance when the GAME_LOADING mode is active. It’s worth pointing out that many OEMs have already implemented various optimizations to improve game loading times on their devices.

HDR video in Camera2API

The Camera2API allows the developers to check what camera features are available on a device and exposes granular camera features to apps. Google is adding more features to the Camera2API to make it even better. Android 13’s HAL allows smartphone makers to expose 10-bit video output to the Camera2 API. And in case an OEM device supports other HDR formats such as HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, the device maker can advertise the recommended profile to apps using the CameraCharacteristics#REQUEST_RECOMMENDED_TEN_BIT_DYNAMIC_RANGE_PROFILE constant. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that the Camera2 API also includes support for “stream use cases” to allow OEMs to optimize the camera performance in different streaming scenarios.

The device makers are required to implement the following stream use cases:

  • PREVIEW for live viewfinder and in-app image analysis
  • STILL_CAPTURE for still photo capture
  • VIDEO_RECORD for recording video clips
  • PREVIEW_VIDEO_STILL for one single stream used for viewfinder, video recording, and still capture.
  • VIDEO_CALL for long-running video calls

DNS over HTTPS

Android 13 finally adds native support for DNS over HTTPS (DoH). A code change specific to the native DNS over HTTPS was first spotted back in September 2021. It’s finally here now as a part of the Android 13 DP2 build. DNS over TLS uses TLS (also known as SSL) to encrypt traffic, while DNS over HTTPS uses HTTP or HTTP/2 protocols to send DNS queries and responses. One of the main advantages of using DoH over DoT is that the latter uses a dedicated port where anyone at the network level can see incoming and outgoing traffic. DoH, on the other hand, uses port 443, which is the standard port for HTTPS traffic. This means the requests and traffic sent over DoH can hide in with the rest of the HTTPS traffic, making it near impossible for attackers or network admins to monitor or block DoH queries.

Launch apps in split-screen from its notification

Users on the Android 13 DP2 build can now launch an app in split-screen multitasking mode directly from the notification panel. This can be done by long-pressing the notification and then dragging and dropping it to either half of the screen. This particular feature was first introduced in Android 12L, with which the company started to pay attention to Android on large-screen devices.

Better memory management to prevent app killings

Many Android devices, as you probably already know, struggle with memory management. This results in delayed notifications or apps being killed in the background. Some OEMs tune their software better to handle this issue, but many devices from manufacturers like Vivo greatly suffer. But it looks like Android 13 may fix this for good thanks to a feature called “Multi-Generational Least Recently Used” (or MGLRU)”.

This particular feature achieves a couple of goals, including an overall decrease in out-of-memory (OOM) app killings. We wrote about the “Multi-Generational Least Recently Used” feature in detail back in April this year when we first heard about it making its way to Android, so be sure to check it out for more details.

Android 13 Beta 1: Announced features

Google exited the “developer preview” stage of Android 13 with the first release of Android 13 Beta 1 on April 26, 2022. The beta builds are more stable than the DP releases but you should still be wary about installing it on your daily driver. That being said, let’s take a quick look at some of the officially announced features we saw with the arrival of the Android 13 beta 1 build:

More granular permissions for media file access

Currently, all the applications on your Android device can access the files on your phone’s storage with the help of READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. This permission, however, will allow the apps to access all kinds of media files on the storage. For instance, an audio-playing app will have access to your photos with this permission, which is quite unnecessary. But Google is changing this by introducing three new permissions with Android 13:

  • READ_MEDIA_IMAGES (for images and photos)
  • READ_MEDIA_VIDEO (for videos)
  • READ_MEDIA_AUDIO (for audio files)

If a particular application. requests access to more than one media file type, then you’ll see a single dialog for granting both permissions like this:

Android 13 beta 1 media access request

Anticipatory audio routing

Google has added a set of new audio route APIs in the AudioManager class to allow media apps to identify how their audio will be routed. The getAudioDevicesForAttributes() and the getDirectProfilesForAttributes() APIs can be used to gather a list of available devices to the specified audio and to check whether an audio stream can be played directly.

Android 13 Beta 1: Unannounced changes

Google’s official Android 13 beta 1 announcement made it look like it went easy on the new features but a lot of new undocumented features were extracted from the new build. Here, take a look:

Do Not Disturb Mode is here to stay

The Android 13 DP2 build shipped with “Priority Mode” which was essentially a renamed version of “Do Not Disturb” mode. Turns out, Google didn’t like the name because it ended up reverting the change with its Beta 1 build. There’s a chance that Priority Mode could return in a future Android 13 beta update, or it could be renamed in a future release of Android. For now, though, Do Not Disturb is here to stay.

New animation in media control

Android 13’s DP1 build updated the design of the media controls under the quick settings. You can read more about it above in the Android 13 DP1: Unannounced changes section. Well, the beta 1 build comes with a bit of extra flair: a Squiggly progress bar.

Android 13 media squiggly animation (it squiggles)

Android 13 Beta 1 media animation (Credit: Mishaal Rahman)

New color and theming options to the Wallpaper & style app

Android 13 beta 1 adds several new colors and theming options to the Wallpaper & style app on Pixel devices. The updated beta 1 build includes four pages of wallpaper colors and basic colors, taking the total number of both wallpaper colors and basic colors to 16. In contrast, the Wallpaper & style app in the Android 13 Developer Preview 2 release only offered four colors each.

Screen resolution setting

Android 13 makes it easier to switch the resolution in the Settings app. The Android 13 beta 1 build adds a new “Screen resolution” page under Settings > “Display”. It goes without saying that this will only be available on supported devices that lets the user choose between FHD+ (1080p) or QHD+ (1440p). This is essentially an additional layer of customization that exists on top of the feature that lets you change the current refresh rate.

Screen resolution settings page with two options

Credit: Esper

It’s also worth mentioning that some custom skins of Android such as Samsung’s One UI already have the option to change the current screen resolution.

No access to Accessibility APIs for sideloaded apps

Accessibility APIs, as you probably already know, are powerful tools that are intended for developers to help aid users with disabilities. But lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of malware such as FluBot taking advantage of those APIs for malicious intents. However, Google is cracking down on such malware by preventing sideloaded from accessing those APIs. That’s right, any sideloaded apps from outside of an app store will not be able to have their accessibility services enabled.

Android 13 accessibility

When tapping the option to enable it, your device will show a pop-up stating “For your security, this setting is currently unavailable”.

TARE: The Android Resource Economy

Android 13 brings a new energy management feature that lets apps make the best use of the available battery life on your device. TARE primarily focuses on energy-use management on the device, with the feature working through AlarmManager and JobScheduler policies. TARE will essentially delegate “credits” to apps that they can then “spend” as payments on queuing tasks. The number of credits assigned to a particular app will depend on things like battery life.

Android 13's TARE: The Android Resource Economy Android 13's TARE: The Android Resource Economy

This feature was originally spotted last year but Android 13 Beta 1 reportedly changes how TARE works under the hood. According to Mishaal Rahman of Esper, Google has changed how the Android Resource Credits are allocated to various apps. The “maximum circulation” of credits that limited how many credits could be allocated to all apps has now been removed. It has been replaced with a “consumption limit” that limits the credits that can be consumed across all apps within a single discharge cycle. In simple terms, your device will perform fewer actions if/when the battery levels are low.

Google has added a couple of other noteworthy features with the Android 13 beta 1 build, so be sure to check out our coverage to learn more about them.

Android 13 Beta 2: Announced features

Google released the second public beta build of Android 13 at Google I/O 2022. The Android 13 beta 2 build brings a couple of interesting features including predictive back gestures. Let’s a look:

Security and Privacy settings on the same page

Google announced that it’s introducing a unified Security & Privacy settings page in Android 13. This new page puts all the security and privacy settings under one roof to make it easier for people to find what they need. While this page was announced at Google I/O, it looks like it’s not accessible in the beta 2 build. We’ll keep an eye on this page and report/update this space once it goes live.

Security and Privacy page in Android 13

Android 13 Beta 2: Unannounced changes

As is the case with every other build of Android 13, the second public beta release also added a bunch of unannounced features to mix. Let’s take a look:

Resource files specifying supported app languages

With the Android 13 beta 2 build, the developers can now specify what languages their apps can support so that users can choose languages on a per-app basis. You can learn more about using languages on a per-app basis in the Android 13 DP1 section above.

Predictive back gesture

Google is introducing “predictive back gestures” with Android 13 that allows users to preview the destination or other result of a back gesture before they complete it. This will enable you to decide whether or not you want to continue with the gesture or stay in the current view. App developers can also easily integrate this into their apps.

Once this particular feature is fully available to use, you can head over to Settings > System > Developer options to select Predictive back animations and see it in action.

Support for Bluetooth LE Audio’s broadcast

Android 13 beta 2 build adds support for Bluetooth LE Audio’s broadcast audio feature, which will essentially let users broadcast audio from supported devices to nearby users over Bluetooth. This is a great feature as other nearby devices can use Bluetooth to tune into your broadcast. Users who want to broadcast media will find an option broadcast media in the media output picker, whereas the ones who want to tune into other broadcasts will have to scan a QR code or enter the name and password for the broadcast.

Android TV’s expanded picture-in-picture mode

Android 13 TV Expanded PiP API

Android TV has supported picture-in-picture mode for years now, but it’s worth mentioning that Android 13 will be the first version that will allow developers to create expanded PiP windows. This will allow users to seamlessly change the size of a PiP window. Google didn’t ship the expanded PiP with the beta 1 build, however, it’s finally here along with a new docked mode that resizes the main app to allow PiP windows to be seated on the edges.

Gboard’s Emoji Kitchen gets new emojis

Google’s Emoji Kitchen is one of our favorite features of the Gboard. In case you’re wondering, it lets you combine two different emojis to create an entirely new one. There’s no shortage of emojis in Gboard’s Emoji Kitchen but the Android 13 Beta 2 offers support for four additional emojis, including paw prints, cherries, watermelon, and rock.

Android 13 Beta 2.1: bug fixes

The Android 13 Beta 2.1 is a minor release in comparison to the previous Developer Preview builds and the Beta updates. As such, the beta 2.1 update packs a few software fixes to improve the overall stability of the software.

Android 13 Beta 2.1 bug fixes

  • Fixed an issue where typing in the search bar resulted in a blank list of suggestions.
  • Fixed an issue where devices would crash and restart when turning on hotspot.
  • Fixed an issue where a continuous call dialing sound could be heard in the background during a phone call.
  • Fixed an issue where devices would crash and restart after disconnecting from Android Auto.

Android 13 “Tiramisu”: Closing Thoughts

We’ve already seen a lot of what’s to come with the final build of Android 13 but there’s still a long way to go before it’s officially released. It’s safe to assume that we’ll have a lot more builds to get through before we can finally run the stable version of Android 13 on supported devices. We’ll continue to update the article as and when more new features and changes in Android 13 come to light. Given that Android 12 was a substantial update, what are your expectations from Android 13? What new features would like to see on the upcoming version of Android? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Android 13 “Tiramisu”: Everything we know so far about Google’s next big update! appeared first on XDA.



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