Android 14 Is Almost Here, Beta 5 Now Available

Android 14 is the next major release for Google’s mobile operating system, and there have already been four public betas and several developer previews. Google is now rolling out Android 14 Beta 5 to testers, and it’s the final milestone before Android 14 is ready for the masses.

Google announced in a blog post, “With the official release of Android 14 only weeks away, today we’re bringing you Beta 5, the last scheduled update in our Android 14 beta program. It’s the last chance to make sure your apps are ready and provide feedback before non-beta users start getting Android 14. To enable you to test your applications on devices spanning multiple form factors, Beta 5 is available for Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold, in addition to the rest of the supported Pixel family and the Android emulator.”

Android 14 follows the same pattern as the last few major Android releases — there aren’t actually many new visible features, because most changes are delivered as app updates in the Play Store or background upgrades to Google Play Services. Instead, most of the changes are focused on improving device security and allowing applications to use new functionality. For example, apps can no longer kill background processes for other apps, a new photo picker, and the same Privacy Sandbox advertisement targeting APIs that are now built into Chrome. Android 14 also blocks the installation of applications that aren’t designed for OS versions below Android 6.0, but if you have a few old apps and games installed, they will not be removed.

There’s no confirmed date for the final release of Android 14, but even when it does arrive, it will likely only be available on Google’s Pixel devices at the start. Manufacturers like Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi have to integrate Google’s changes into their customized versions of Android, which usually pushes back the release date of Android 14 on third-party devices by several months. Samsung is publicly testing its customized version of Android 14, known as One UI 6, but it will probably be at least a few weeks after Google’s release before it starts showing up on Galaxy phones and tablets.

Source: Android Developers Blog