Google’s beta programs have become outright confusing for anyone who doesn’t follow too closely. The company is currently testing the next big release of its mobile operating system, Android 14, which is now in its developer preview phase. Google is also at it with Android 13 betas, though, which it uses to test its quarterly Pixel Feature Drops. Since the March Feature Drop is now live for everyone with a supported Pixel phone, the next in line is the June Feature Drop. As such, Google is working on the Quarterly Platform Release 3 (QPR3). Here is our ongoing changelog detailing what’s new in the betas preceding the final Android 13 release.
Android 13 QPR3 Beta 2
Google has released Android 13 QPR3 Beta 2 on March 29, 2023, much to our surprise. The company only started the beta cycle with QPR3 Beta 1 on March 15, so it only took about two weeks for the company to release the next version. That short distance between the two releases is definitely noticeable, though. There are only a few tweaks in Beta 2, which we’ve collected for you below.
Entering your PIN is (optionally) more private
The PIN you’ve selected for your phone is the only thing that stands between you and a thief interested in more than just your physical device. It’s shockingly easy to take over your Google account when someone knows your PIN, so you need to protect it almost as well as your password. Google is making this easier with a new setting in Android 13 QPR3 that’s also going to come to all Android phones with Android 14, as covered by XDA. A new Enhanced PIN privacy option in the screen lock system settings allows you to disable all animations for your PIN entry screen, making it much harder for prying eyes to make out your PIN when they glance over your shoulder.
Broken color profiles from Beta 1 are fixed
In QPR 3 Beta 1, Google accidentally broke some Pixel phones’ color profiles, making screens appear much darker and more vivid than intended. While some people may have liked the change, it wasn’t intentional, and so Google fixed the bug that caused this with Beta 2, as 9to5Google spotted.
This change is almost too small to report on, but it might mess with your brain when you’re someone who often accesses app info screens. When you long-press an icon on your home screen, the menu options for pausing an app and for app info at the top have been swapped, which might lead to some accidents.
Stable Android 13 and QPR3 Beta 2 side-by-side
If you look further below, you can see that Google is planning a new design for the long-press menu that would put the pause app and app info shortcuts on top of each other rather than next to each other. It’s possible that the order was changed due to some background preparations for this design tweak.
Android 13 QPR3 Beta 1
Google first started the QPR3 journey with Beta 1 on March 15, 2023. The new release is already giving us a glimpse at some features that many other phones might only get with Android 14, as Google is developing both the last Android 13 release for Pixels and the next big OS version in parallel. Let’s dive right in.
The app drawer animation is much smoother
1st: Previous versions. 2nd: Android 13 QPR3.
Google added an option to automatically show the keyboard when you open the app drawer to jump right into search. As convenient as that is, you may have noticed that the keyboard and the app drawer fly in at different speeds. This animation discrepancy is fixed in Android 13 QPR3, with the keyboard and the app drawer finally moving up at the same speed. This may just be a small cosmetic change, but it makes for a better experience.
Small design adjustments
Mishaal Rahman reports that the transcient taskbar for tablets and foldables is back in Android 13 QPR3. This is a tweak to the taskbar that makes it disappear automatically when you don’t interact with it, only showing up when you swipe up a little from the bottom. It was first introduced in QPR2 Beta 2 but then removed later on. Note that you can only access this when you set your device to a DPI of 600 or higher, and only when you use gesture navigation rather than buttons.
When you want to change your wallpaper on QPR3, you might also notice another change first introduced in Android 14 DP2. The wallpaper preview is now showing your new background in a fullscreen view, making it easier for you to gauge whether or not you really like it.
In one last change related to the launcher, Android 13 QPR3 decouples the weather report from the smart space in the top left corner of the home and lock screen on Pixel phones. This allows you to disable the weather card on the lock screen, as Mishaal Rahman demonstrates. The tweak was also introduced in Android 14 DP2, so it’s not clear if it will actually come to Android 13 or if it’s just leftover code.
If you don’t love always seeing the battery percentage in your status bar, the Pixels left you out of luck for a while. Rather than showing you a percentage number when you swipe down to see the notifications, they would instead show you a time-based estimate, making it very inconvenient to see hard numbers. This forced many to turn on the battery percentage in the status bar. The percentage is now back in the notification shade with QPR3.
Some tweaks are currently in the works for the launcher that hit a similar cosmetic note. The menu that pops up when you long-press an app icon looks different, though you have to activate hidden developer flags in order to make this change show up. Rather than putting every single item in a box of its own, the redesign offers three boxes to help differentiate the individual sections available: App info, widgets, and other administrative options in one box, in-app shortcuts in the next, and notifications in another one. The opening animation has also been tweaked a little, with the menu now flying in right from the icon you press, along with a small bounce back when it reaches its intended size. This design change is also available in Android 14 DP2, but it’s hidden there, too.
Further tweaks in Android 13 QPR3 Beta 1
There are a few more changes in the works that are worth highlighting:
Get Android 13 QPR3 right now
If you want in on the fun, be sure to join Google’s beta program. While it’s easy enough to get an over-the-air update for the beta, you need to keep in mind that the way back is harder and involves a full reset. So if you want to get the QPR3 beta, you might have to wait for the program to end until you can return to a stable build without losing your data.
