Google Releases Android 13 Beta 1

Google today announced the release of Android 13 Beta 1, which adds new features for developers and, one hopes, for end users too.

“Today we’re moving into the next phase of our cycle and releasing the first Beta of Android 13,” Google vice president Dave Burke writes in the announcement post. “For developers, there’s a lot to explore in Android 13, from privacy features like the new notification permission and photo picker, to APIs that help you build great experiences, like themed app icons, quick settings tile placement, and per-app language support, as well as capabilities like Bluetooth LE audio and MIDI 2.0 over USB. In Beta 1, we’ve added new permissions for more granular access to media files, improved audio routing APIs, and more.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

If none of that sounds all that interesting to you as an end-user, well, you’re not alone. But Google says it will have more to share at its Google I/O conference next month. And I suspect that various enthusiast blogs will begin uncovering new features in Beta 1 that may prove more enticing as well.

Google plans a second beta release in May, followed by two Platform Stability releases, in June and July, and then the final release of Android 13 in August. If you’re interested in testing Beta 1, you will need a Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, Pixel 6, or Pixel 6 Pro. Or you can try the build in an Android emulator.

You can learn more about Android 13 from the Android 13 Developer site.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 2 comments

  • dftf

    26 April, 2022 - 2:25 pm

    <p>Let’s hope <em>Android 13 </em>proves more-stable than <em>12 </em>is, currently! (Not that it makes much difference to me, given next-month is my final-update on my <em>Pixel 3a</em>.)</p><p><br></p><p>Interesting that they mention "<strong>themed icons</strong>" again — that feature is <em>still </em>labelled as "beta" in <em>Android 12</em>, right now, and when turned-on, only most of Google’s-own app icons change. So I wonder in <em>13</em> if they are going to force developers to supply icons that are themeable, or they’re just going to recolour the icons by converting them to greyscale, then applying a tint?</p><p><br></p><p>I could see <strong>per-app language support</strong> being useful for some — though can’t an app just offer an option internally to change the language, rather than defer this to a system-level preference? And <strong>apps</strong> <strong>only given-access to specific types of files</strong>, such as audio, image or video, is good for privacy, though why not only allow access to <em>only </em>the files the user selects, not all of a certain type?</p>

  • Brian Hodges

    Premium Member
    26 April, 2022 - 3:02 pm

    <p>I’m interested in seeing how the Bluetooth LE works out.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC