Google Issues Android 14 Developer Preview 1

Google today released the first developer preview for Android 14, which builds on Android 12L and 13 to better support tablets and foldable form factors.

“Making Android work well for each and every one of the billions of Android users is a collaborative process between us, Android hardware manufacturers, and you, our developer community,” Google vice president Dave Burke writes in the announcement post. “Today we’re releasing the first Developer Preview of Android 14, and your feedback in these previews is a critical part of making Android better for everyone.”

There’s not much new for users in DP1, of course—Google vaguely promises “enhancements to performance, privacy, security, and user customization”—but then this is a developer-oriented release. It will better optimize the way apps work together, improve system health and battery life, and polish the end-user experience, Google says, improve battery life and responsiveness, and better allow users to customize the system to their individual needs, including enhanced accessibility and internationalization features.

One curiously specific change is that Android 14 will let users scale fonts to 200 percent, up from the previous maximum of 130 percent. The system will use a non-linear font scaling curve to ensure that text that is already large enough doesn’t increase at the same rate as smaller text.

To test Android 14 DP1 now, you will need a Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7, Pixel 6a, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 5, or Pixel 4a (5G). Otherwise, you can use a system image with the Android Emulator in Android Studio.

You can learn more on the Android Developer website.