Tag: Android 14

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Google pushes out Android 14 Beta 1.1 to compatible devices

Google has released the latest Android 14 beta update, version 1.1, to those in the Android Beta for Pixel program. Being a “.1” release, the build is focused on patching bugs.

Android 14 Beta 1 released a couple of weeks ago, and brought with it several UI changes and tweaks. Unfortunately, it also came with some new crashes and glitches.

Thankfully, Google appears to be hearing the complaints, as illustrated by the release notes.

The company outlines the following fixes:

  • – Fixed an issue where the system UI crashed when trying to access the Wallpaper & Style screen either through the Settings app, or by long-pressing from the home screen. (Issue #277938424)
  • – Fixed some issues that prevented fingerprint unlock from being used. (Issue #272403537)
  • – Fixed an issue where the status bar did not display the mobile network. (Issue #277892134)
  • – Fixed an issue that prevented a SIM card or eSIM from being detected or activated in some cases. (Issue #278026119)
  • – Fixed an issue where the lock screen displayed a message with an unresolved string placeholder when Smart Lock was enabled. (Issue #278011057)

Devices in the Android Beta for Pixel program can expect the update to arrive over-the-air, according to Google. The full list of compatible devices can be found on the Android for Developers website.

The next beta release of Android 14 is expected to arrive sometime in May.

Source: Google Via: Droid Life

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Android 13 is running on more than 12 percent of Android phones

The latest numbers show impressive growth from the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, with Android 13 running on over 12 percent of Android phones — more than double the amount last quarter.

We may be used to companies like Apple boasting about the number of users running the latest version of iOS, but it’s not often Google can share similar successes (although on a smaller scale). In fact, the company just made it harder to access its market share graphs. Quarterly reports can still be accessed through Android Studio, however.

Despite having a history of falling short of first place, Google’s latest report shows considerable growth with its latest operating system after a start that saw only 5 percent of smartphones running Android 13 in its first month. Without question, users are switching over from Android 12 to Android 13, with the previous OS being down 2.4 percent since January.

This information comes from Android’s most recent distribution chart.

Samsung deserves a cut of the praise for Android 13’s recent growth, with the tech giant updating its older smartphones to Android 13 and the new Galaxy S23 coming with the operating system installed. Android 13 is expected makes its way to its mid-range models, so the growth could ramp up even more over the coming months.

Android will hopefully celebrate the small wins, but not for too long. Android 14 beta 1 was revealed by Google recently, which marks the company’s desire to capitalize on its recent growth immediately.

Via: Android Police

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Android 14 Beta 1 doesn’t play nice with Themed icons

Google dropped the first Android 14 beta for Pixels this week, and people have already stumbled across a significant bug. Those who use the ‘Themed icons’ feature will end up with a constantly-crashing ‘Wallpaper & style’ app.

Themed icons, for those not familiar, is a feature that transforms app icons to match the Material You theme on your device. For example, someone using a wallpaper that shows several leaves might end up with green Material You theme accents – using Themed icons will make all supported icons match the theme using a similar green colour. (Emphasis on supported, since the one or two icons that don’t support theming will stick out like a sore thumb.)

Unfortunately for people rocking Themed icons on their Pixel phone before making the leap to the Android 14 beta, Themed icons cause some issues with the Wallpaper & style menu, causing it to instantly crash whenever you open it. While not that big a deal overall, it’s a somewhat frustrating bug because turning off Themed icons will fix the problem, but you need to access Wallpaper & style to turn off Themed icons, which you can’t do if Themed icons are turned on.

How to fix the issue

Thankfully, there are a couple workarounds available already. Android Police reports it has had success by simply changing the wallpaper, which you can do from another app if you can’t access Wallpaper & style (e.g. picking an image from your gallery to set as the wallpaper).

However, that only really works if you want to keep your icons themed and just want to change their colour. If you want to turn off Themed icons entirely, the fix is a little bit more complex. 9to5Google uncovered a fix, but unfortunately, it’s a bit of a nuclear option.

The fix in question is clearing the Pixel Launcher storage on your device. This will wipe out all your settings, including which apps and widgets you have on your homescreen, suggested apps, swiping to access the Google app and more. It also clears the Themed icon setting, which means Wallpaper & style will stop crashing (unless you turn Themed icons back on).

Clearing your Pixel Launcher storage does work – that’s how I fixed the crashing problem on my Pixel 7 – so if you’re desperate for a fix and don’t mind setting up your homescreen from scratch again, this is the way to go. To do it, head into Settings > Apps > All apps > Pixel Launcher > Storage & cache > Clear storage.

If you don’t want to clear your Pixel Launcher storage, all that remains is waiting for a fix from Google. It’s not clear how long that will take, though, and there might be more pressing issues the company is focusing on for the beta.

As far as bugs go, this one really isn’t that bad, though it is annoying. Bugs are also to be expected in a beta, so as usual, it’s probably not worth messing around with it unless you’re prepared to deal with these types of issues. That said, this is the worst issue I’ve encountered with the Android 14 beta so far on my Pixel 7, aside from some apps and games crashing.

Source: Android Police, 9to5Google

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Google drops first Android 14 beta for Pixels

As scheduled, Google dropped the first Android 14 beta on April 12th.

The first beta arrives after two Developer Previews. Google previously detailed a plan to release Developer Previews through February and March, beta releases in April and May, followed by a period of ‘platform stability’ culminating in the final release sometime after July.

The release of Android 14 Beta 1 also marks the first time that Android 14 will be easily accessible to people through Google’s Android Beta Program website, assuming you have an eligible device (currently, Pixel phones ranging from the 4a 5G to the Pixel 7 Pro).

However, being easily accessible doesn’t mean you should download it — as a beta, Android 14 will definitely have rough edges, bugs and other problems. If you want to try it out, don’t install it on your daily driver or make sure you’re prepared to deal with any potential problems.

What’s new in Android 14 Beta 1?

While I’m still waiting on the beta to download to my Pixel 7, there are already several reports out about new features and additions. Some of what’s new will be familiar to anyone who’s played with (or followed coverage of) the developer previews.

For example, Google has forged ahead with restrictions that will limit the visibility of sensitive data to disability-focused accessibility services. This should help improve user privacy.

Google also did some work to improve the user interface (UI) with a new back arrow that should help improve gesture navigation. Android’s share sheet is also getting a little better with custom actions and shortcuts, though Google still has a long way to go to fix sharing on Android.

There are plenty of small changes too, like an option to force a ‘transparent’ navigation bar on all apps, revamped icons in the Markup tool that show drawing colours, and more.

It remains to be seen what all is new and different, but over the new few weeks, we’ll likely learn more as the Android experts start digging in and unearthing new stuff.

Cia: Android Central, 9to5Google

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Apple-like handoff feature might arrive with Android 14

One of the primary benefits of owning Apple devices is the connectivity within the tech giant’s ecosystem of devices. For example, Handoff is a feature that lets you seamlessly transfer tasks and data between your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

You can start writing an email on your phone and finish it on your laptop, or you can answer a call on your watch and switch to a different Apple device. Google has been working on improving the connectivity between Android devices and Chromebooks, but it still lags behind Apple in this area; however, this might change with Android 14.

Google might be ready to introduce a new feature that would allow you to hand off phone calls from one Android device to another.

According to @MishaalRahman on Twitter, in Android 14’s Developer Preview 2, there’s a new “SYSTEM_CALL_STREAMING role that only system apps targeting SDK 34 and which have a CALL_STREAMING_SERVICE implemented can hold.”

Rahman also uncovered references to CallControl and StreamingCall APIs in the documentation published by Google when Android 14 Developer Preview 1 was released in February. These APIs are related to the “nearby calling” feature that was spotted in Android 12L and the Google Nest Hub.

 

“What I suspect this’ll be used for is to stream voice call audio from an Android phone to an Android tablet. Imagine you get a call on your Pixel, but you’re near your Pixel Tablet. Tap the output switcher and select the tablet to begin streaming the phone call to your tablet!” wrote Rahman.

Since the API is available for all Android devices, it is possible that Google will eventually expand this feature to other device pairs, such as Chromebooks and Android phones. This would make it easier to switch between devices without interrupting your phone calls.

Google has not officially announced this feature yet, so it is unclear if and when it will be available or how it will work. What is clear, however, is that Google is trying to catch up with Apple in terms of creating a seamless ecosystem of devices that work well together.

From what we know so far, Android 14 will also bring separate live wallpapers for Home and Lock screens, alongside separate ring and notification volume settings in the new OS. Android 14 is expected to come out sometime this fall, so users wouldn’t have to wait too long to make use of the security feature.

Source: @MishaalRahman Via: AndroidPolice

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Android 14 could bring separate live wallpapers for Home and Lock screens

Android users have been able to use live wallpapers since the release of Android 2.0 Eclair in 2009. However, despite the capability to set a separate static wallpaper for the home screen and lock screen, Android only lets users set a single live wallpaper for both. This limitation might be changing with Android 14.

Android 14’s latest Developer Preview holds clues regarding the requested feature. According to XDADevelopers, while digging through the source code for the Developer Preview, code changes that suggest Android 14 will enable an “independent lock screen live wallpaper” feature were discovered.

One of the code changes adds a new method to Android’s WallpaperManager class called setWallpaperComponentWithFlags(). This new method allows system apps that hold the SET_WALLPAPER_COMPONENT permission, such as Android’s Live Wallpaper Picker app, to set the live wallpaper for the home screen, lock screen, or both screens.

Currently, the “independent lock screen live wallpaper” feature is not enabled in the Android 14 Developer Preview, so the lock screen in current builds only supports showing static wallpapers.

XDADevelopers speculates that the feature is being added for new devices like the Pixel Tablet, which will double up as a Nest smart display. While there’s no guarantee that this feature will be released, it’s still exciting to see the possibility of setting a separate live wallpaper for the lock screen in Android 14. It’s a small but important feature that can add more personalization and customization to users’ Android experience.

In other Android 14-related news, Pixel users might get separate ring and notification volume settings with the new OS. Read more about it here.

Source: XDADevelopers

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Pixel users could get separate ring, notification volume in Android 14

The second Android 14 Developer Preview has been out for a little bit now, but people are still uncovering new features and tweaks. One such discovery is that Android 14 splits the ring and notification volume levels, letting users have a loud ringtone for incoming calls and quiet notifications for emails and texts.

Of course, if you don’t use a Pixel, this is something you’ve likely had access to for a while (and even older Pixels offered this feature before Google did away with it). For example, Samsung smartphones offer separate ring and notification volume controls.

While certainly not a major change, it is a nice quality-of-life adjustment for anyone over the age of 50 who doesn’t keep their phone on vibrate.

Android expert Mishaal Rahman tweeted that Google has been working on separating ring and notification volumes for a little while, with the feature appearing in the Android 13 QPR2 beta. However, in the 13 QPR2 beta, users needed to enable a flag to get the separated volumes. Based on the reports about Android 14 DP2, the feature just turned on, with Rahman writing that it looks like Google toggled the flag remotely.

It will be interesting to see if the volume separation is enabled in the Android 13 QPR3 beta. If it is, then the change could hit devices as part of the June 2023 Pixel Feature Drop. Otherwise, ring and notification volumes might remain together until Android 14 arrives.

Source: @MishaalRahman Via: Android Police

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Android 14 might kill task killer apps claiming to speed up your phone

Android 14 may help crack down on scammy ‘task killer’ apps that misleadingly promise to speed up your smartphone.

According to information uncovered by Android expert Mishaal Rahman and shared in an Esper.io blog post (via Make Use Of), Google will change Android to prevent apps from killing other apps’ background processes.

The changes involve the ‘KILL_BACKGROUND_PROCESSES’ permission and the ‘ActivityManager.killBackgroundProcesses(String)’ API. These work basically exactly as they sound, allowing apps to leverage the permission to close apps running in the background.

Currently, task killer apps use the permission and API to shut down all background apps, claiming this will speed up your device. Of course, this isn’t true, and closing down background tasks may cause other problems down the line. Android 14, however, will only let apps kill their own background processes.

The problem with task killers is that they can conflict with Android’s resource management, which is already capable of closing down apps that aren’t needed. Plus, some apps are designed to run in the background and will just restart if a task killer app shuts down the apps’ background process, using more resources than if the app had been left alone.

Google echoes this in documentation that Rahman shared:

“Android is designed to keep cached apps in the background and kill them automatically when the system needs memory. If your app kills other apps unnecessarily, it can reduce system performance and increase battery consumption by requiring full restarts of those apps later, which takes significantly more resources than resuming an existing cached app.”

Along with tamping down on task killer apps by restricting the use of the permission and API, Google also seems to be gearing up to enforce a long-standing Play Store policy. Per a note at the end of the documentation shared by Rahman:

“It isn’t possible for a 3rd-party application to improve the memory, power, or thermal behavior of an Android device. You should ensure that your app is compliant with Google Play’s policy against misleading claims.”

As with any change in a pre-release version of Android, it’s possible things could change before the stable release. Hopefully, this change sticks. And for those still rocking a task killer app, you may want to get out ahead and uninstall it now.

Source: Esper.io Via: Make Use Of

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Android 14 DP2 includes option to auto-confirm correct PINs

The second Android 14 Developer Preview arrived this week with a few new features, including — at long last — the option to auto-confirm correct PINs.

Sure, this feature has been available for years in Android skins and custom ROMs, but now it’s finally coming to stock Android. It may not sound like a big deal, but for anyone who has used a smartphone that auto-confirms the PIN when you type it in correctly, having to take the extra step of tapping the ‘enter’ button is a small but constant frustration.

Mishaal Rahman, writing for XDA Developers, uncovered the feature in Android 14 DP2, though it appears to still be a work in progress. Rahman noted that the feature doesn’t appear by default and didn’t work on his device.

It appears as an option when setting up a PIN. Users can tap ‘Auto-confirm correct PIN’ to enable the feature, and it warns that “confirming your PIN by tapping Enter is more secure than using auto-confirm.”

Moreover, Rahman says the option to auto-confirm PINs doesn’t show up for PINs that are less than six digits long. Additionally, the Settings menu changes from saying the “PIN must be at least 4 digits” to “but a 6-digit PIN is recommended for aded security.”

For those who want to enable or disable auto-confirm PIN after setting up their PIN, the option can be found in Settings > Security & privacy > Device lock > Tap the cog icon next to Screen Lock.

Given the feature doesn’t work and isn’t available in Android 14 DP2 without tweaking some things, it seems possible Google might not roll out the feature with the stable release of Android 14. It wouldn’t be the first time a feature in a Developer Preview didn’t make the cut. Still, it would nice to get the option in Android 14.

Source: XDA Developers

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Passkeys are coming to Dashlane with Android 14

With the coming of Android 14, more apps are set to replace regular passwords with passkeys, and one of them is Dashlane.

Passkeys allow users to create online accounts and sign in to them without entering a password. According to 1Password, if they are implemented correctly, you won’t have to type anything out or require a two-factor authentication code.

In a blog post today, Dashlane said that it would add support for passkeys in Android 14, as the new version of Android allows passkeys for third-party apps. Therefore, Dashlane won’t be the only app that’ll be picking up passkeys when Android 14 launches later this year. 1Password is another app that’s announced the inclusion of passkeys.

In a tweet, Dashlane showed off what passkeys would look like on its app when Android 14 launches.

Passkeys will launch in Dashlane with the final release of Android 14, which is expected to roll out in August.

Source: Dashlane