Google’s Android development cycle is running at a fairly predictable cadence these days. Today, after two developer previews, the company has released the first of four planned public betas for Android 14. As with previous releases, the first beta is also the first anyone can install over the air, assuming they have a supported version. Pixel device, back to the Pixel 4a 5G (but not the Pixel 4).
There is no official support for non-Google phones yet. As always, keep in mind that these are beta releases for a reason and are still mostly for developers who want to test their apps against this new version and early adopters who can’t wait for the stable release. Things can and will break.
Image credits: Google
For the most part, there aren’t many new features in this beta, though there are a couple of user-facing UI updates worth naming. The first is a new back arrow (yes – we’ve come to a point in mobile OS history where the new back arrow is by far the most exciting thing). As Google notes, the gesture navigation experience now “includes a more visible back arrow while interacting with an app to help improve understanding and usefulness of back gestures.” This arrow will match your wallpaper or device theme. exciting stuff.
Developers will also now be able to add custom actions to the system share sheet, and the share sheet will now be even smarter about how you order your share goals.
Otherwise, there isn’t much new here. Language settings for each app are available here, as are Google’s previously announced new privacy settings.
I expect we’ll hear more about what’s new in Android 14 — and see more user-facing features — at Google I/O next month. For now, though, this appears to be another evolutionary release.
Image credits: Google