Android 13 Developer Preview 1 lands today — here are all the new features

Android 13 Developer Preview ane lands today — here are all the new features

(Image credit: Google)

Android thirteen has landed, appearing in its starting time Developer Preview class right at the kickoff February but a few days after the release of this calendar month's security patch. Google has started putting out the very early versions of its mobile OS near the start of the year, giving developers enough of fourth dimension to get their apps gear up for the final release later in the autumn.

Google obviously hasn't spilled all of the beans on what to await from Android 13 — remember that the visitor appear the whole Material Yous redesign at Google I/O 2021, months later on the initial Android 12 Developer Previews. And then far with Android 13, the focus is mostly on developer quality of life with improvements to some of the APIs and back up for OpenJDK 11.

Notwithstanding, there are a couple of user-facing elements centered around privacy, besides. I'll intermission down everything that's new so far below. And, of course, y'all tin now install the get-go Developer Preview on a Pixel four and in a higher place, though the software update is far from ready for daily use.

Android 13 and privacy

Google is currently focusing on ii user-facing privacy features. While minor, they will certainly help security going forrad.

Photo picker: Android 13 is getting a long-standing iOS characteristic in the course of a photo picker. This ways that you can choose to share specific photos with an app rather than your whole gallery. The addition of a photo picker builds off the document picker feature that Android has had for a while, where apps only accept admission to the documents you choose instead of the whole filesystem.

In brusk, this means you can tell Facebook it can only have access to those family photos from your roadtrip instead of every image you've taken. That's certainly a big stride forrad for privacy on Android, and I welcome information technology.

On my iPhone, I find information technology can be a bit annoying selecting which photos I want an app to access (particularly when apps constantly asking access to all of my photos). But ultimately, a photo picker is the more than secure option.

android 13 photo picker gif — (Image credit: Google)

Nearby Wi-Fi device permission: This is a much smaller feature, simply Google is refining the Nearby Device permission to include a Wi-Fi chemical element. The NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES permission allows apps to admission your phone's knowledge of Wi-Fi access points. All of this ways is that apps that telephone call commonly used Wi-Fi APIs will need to use this permission. This permission will limit apps' access to your device's Wi-Fi access points without getting all of your location data.

Android 13 then far is about virtually developer-facing features, which I'll briefly get over beneath. If you want to know more, I encourage y'all to cheque out Google's full Android 13 breakdown for more than information.

Themed third-party icons: In Android 12, Material You lot introduced support for icons to shade themselves according to the wallpaper. Even so, that was limited to Google apps. In Android 13, Google is opening it upwards to third-party developers. All they demand to practice is supply a monochrome app icon and a tweak to the XML, and Material You will handle the rest.

android 13 themed icons - left disabled, middle enabled, right enabled and dark mode — (Prototype credit: Google)

Quick Settings Placement API: Android 13 will allow developers to prompt users to add a Quick Settings tile. Previously, you'd have to go into your Quick Settings tile management card to add together tiles, but now apps can prompt you lot directly within them. (You'll still accept to suit them yourself.)

android 13 quick settings placement api ui element — (Image credit: Google)

Programmable shaders: Android xiii will open the system shaders to developers. This means that third-party apps can use things similar ripple effects, blur, and stretch overscroll — this has previously been system-only.

Faster hyphenation: Hyphenation is a method of wrapping text and breaking up words to accomplish a clean look scaled to the electric current UI. You've seen it before, even on things as old as printed books. Android xiii has improved the hyphenation organisation by 200%, meaning that apps can hyphenate nearly instantaneously.

Per-app linguistic communication preferences: For multilingual users (or people acclimating themselves to a new linguistic communication for learning purposes), Android xiii will support a per-app language preference. Desire an app in English, simply your messaging app in your native language? Android 13 has yous covered, so long as developers call the new platform API.

OpenJDK xi: Android thirteen will brainstorm support for the OpenJDK 11 LTS release. Google plans to backport the new Java version to Android 12 via an update to Google Play Services.

How to get Android 13 Developer Preview i

Android thirteen Developer Preview ane is really intended for developers and certainly not meant to be the software you install on a telephone you rely for everyday utilise. That said, getting your easily on the preview is fairly straightforward.

You'll need a Pixel four or later — that includes a Pixel 4XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, Pixel six or Pixel half dozen Pro. (If yous don't have a Pixel, you can turn to 64-bit organisation images with the Android Emulator in Android Studio.)

One time you have a compatible Pixel device, you'll demand to flash a system image to the phone. Google besides provides instructions for using the Android Emulator in a tablet or foldable device configuration.

Somewhen, Google plans to open Android 13 to more than users via a general beta, which is another reason why anyone who isn't a programmer should maybe give Developer Preview one a pass.

Android xiii Developer Preview 1 outlook

Along with all of the to a higher place features and tweaks, Google released the planned project stability timeline. Information technology strongly resembles last year'south, though the final release seems a scrap more ambiguous with a postal service-July timeframe.

android 13 project stability timeline — (Prototype credit: Google)

Interestingly plenty, it looks like Google could release the first beta near April. I honestly promise the company keeps the first beta equally a treat for Google I/O, which traditionally takes place in May. I don't know well-nigh you, simply it has been super fun to run out to install the beta post-obit Google'south keynote at the developer conference. That might just be me, though.

Speaking of Google I/O 2022, expect to hear a lot about Android 13 there. Who knows if Google will accept another Material You-style bombshell to drop on us, but don't count on it. Instead, I'd expect a lot more focus on privacy as Google attempts to catch upwardly to Apple. Google has yet to set up a date for its developer briefing.

Say what you will almost iOS, but the App Tracking initiative has shaken things up in a expert way for users — and it'due south incredibly satisfying to deny all apps the permission to track you. I doubt we'll run into it on Android, simply maybe Android xiii will get us closer.

Hashemite kingdom of jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom'southward Guide, covering all things telephone-related. He'due south written about phones for over five years and plans to keep for a long while to come. He loves zip more than relaxing in his home with a book, game, or his latest personal writing project. Hashemite kingdom of jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Hashemite kingdom of jordan tends to lurk on social media, just you lot can all-time reach him on Twitter.