Android 13 is the thirteenth major release of the Android mobile operating system, developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google, released for the public on August 15, 2022.
- History
Android 13 was announced in an Android blog posted on February 10, 2022, and the first Developer Preview was immediately released for the Google Pixel series. It was released 4 months or so after the stable version of Android 12. Developer Preview 2 followed later, releasing in March. Beta 1 was released on April 26, 2022. Google released beta 2 during Google I/O on May 11, 2022. Two more beta versions were planned for release in June and July. Platform stability was reached in June, with Beta 3. The final release of Android 13 began on August 15 when the update was made available to Pixel phones and pushed to the Android Open Source Project.
- Features
- Privacy
Android 13 includes several new features intended to enhance user privacy, both user-facing and developer-facing. A new media picker is added, which improves privacy by allowing users to choose which photos and videos apps have access to. Most apps have not implemented this picker yet. In addition, Android 13 introduces a new permission, NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES. Previously, Wi-Fi and GPS permissions were bundled into a single setting termed "Location". This change means that apps can now be allowed to search for nearby devices and networks without needing to request access to broader navigational systems.
Also, a new runtime permission feature is being added to apps sending non-exempt notifications which allows users to focus on notifications most important to them.
- User experience
Apps are required to request permission from the user before they are able to send notifications.
Small changes to dialog windows such as the Internet toggle have been added, making them fit better with the design language. As of Developer Preview 2, the media player has been redesigned, now using the album cover as a background, and including more user controls. In the early previews, silent mode disabled vibration completely, including haptics. As of the beta versions, the old behavior has returned. The multiple users feature has been improved, with the possibility of selecting which apps can be accessed from the guest user. App data is sandboxed between users, so no information is shared.
- New features
The number of active apps is shown at the bottom of the notifications panel, a tap on it opens a detailed panel which lets the user stop each of them.
Support for Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 audio codec, which enables receiving and sharing audio between multiple Bluetooth devices simultaneously; it can also improve the audio quality and battery life of the connected devices, as long as they also support it. This version opens the support for third-party apps to use themed Material You icons.
- Tweaks
Split Screen mode now persists through app changes, meaning it is possible to use other apps and the phone launcher, and split screen apps will stay paired together in the Overview menu. Animations have been improved, notably the fingerprint scanner glow on the Pixel 6 series. Overflow notifications on the lock screen also are housed in a dynamically sized pill rather than a bar, and the 2-line stacked clock is slightly smaller. It reduces memory pressure, compiled code size, jank and prevents the risk of killing apps because of low memory during GC.
- See also
Android version history
References Google
Official website for users
Official website for developer information
- TAG's
Android will design changes android beta
New Android 12 changes include AUG APP
Android 11 features and changes AUG
Android 10 visual changes AUG
Android 9 privacy changes AUG
Android 8 changes android update
Android 7 changes android QPR
Android 6 changes android app
Changes to notifications
AUG behavior changes settings
Behavior changes that may affect