After months of murmurs and rumors, the Android 14 Developer Preview 1 was released in early February, right in line with previous releases like Android 13 and Android 12. It will be the operating system that will power the best Android phones of 2023 and 2024. While it is highly unlikely to be a big redesign like Android 12, it still looks like it’s poised to bring a ton of quality-of-like improvements like better battery life, improved accessibility, and a revamped back navigation gesture. Stay with us to learn about everything we know about Android 14 so far.
Android 14 preview timeline, potential release date, and supported devices
Android 14 follows a similar timeline as previous releases. As you can see in the timeline shared by Google below, we’re looking at two developer previews, with the first released in February and the second slated for March. Sometime in April, Google will release the first beta, but the bigger release will likely follow in May. Historically, the company has always held back some of the most interesting consumer-facing changes for the release that ties in with its developer conference, Google I/O.
Source: Google
In June, Android 14 is reaching platform stability with the third beta. This means that developers can program their apps using the new features and APIs introduced in Android 14 without having to worry about any further changes. A fourth beta will arrive in July, and sometime after that, the stable release will follow. If history is any indication, we’re likely looking at an August or September release.
Google has announced which phones are compatible with the first developer preview:
- Pixel 7 & 7 Pro
- Pixel 6a
- Pixel 6 & 6 Pro
- Pixel 5a 5G
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 4a (5G)
As usually, the developer preview is restricted to the Google Pixel phone lineup. More phones from other manufacturers could join the beta program later, which has been the case for the last few Android releases. In the past, beta builds were available for phones from Xiaomi, Asus, OnePlus, Oppo, Nokia, and more.
Google will almost certainly release generic system images (GSIs), which you can install on any phone that supports Project Treble. Be sure you know exactly how to install an Android beta before you think about going that route.
After the beta testing is finished, we expect Android 14 to become available on all recent Android phones and the flagship phones from the last few years. The rollout may take longer than a few months, depending on your manufacturer, though. Samsung’s phones are usually updated pretty quickly, within a few months after the stable release, but the same can’t be said for Asus, Motorola, and more.
What’s new in Android 14 Developer Preview 1
Google released the first developer preview of Android 14 on February 8, 2023. It’s sole purpose is to help developers get their apps ready for the new release, so most announcements revolve around features that developers have to pay attention to. Nevertheless, there are some interesting tidbits in here, so let’s dive right in:
A focus on big screens and cross-device use cases
Google is continuing its quest to make Android and its app ecosystem a perfect match for all screen sizes, whether on smartphones, foldables, tablets, or Chromebooks. The push for big-screen optimization started with Android 12L and was then subsequently further enhanced with Android 13, and things aren’t supposed to be any different with Android 14. The company is rehashing some of the progress it’s made and pointing developers to its best-practices and new classes that allow them to build for different form factors more easily.
Google says it updated its large screen app quality checklists, which give developers an easy way to gauge how well their products will perform across different devices. There are also new example layouts for different kinds of apps, which are supposed to inspire developers to create similarly adaptive layouts and apps that make the best use of available screen real estate.
Less battery drain thanks to streamlined background operations
Standby battery life has greatly increased on Android over the years, but there is still work to do. With Android 14, Google is making changes to reserve foreground services to the highest priority user-facing tasks only, meaning that apps won’t be able to use your phone’s full power when they just want to do something in the background. Additionally, Google is making it easier for developers to program more complicated rules for background tasks, like forcing an app to only download big files when your phone is connected to Wi-Fi.
Google has more restrictions planned for apps that use exact alarms to fire a notification or a task at a specific time in the future. Newly installed apps targeting Android 13 or higher will need to ask users for permission to set exact alarms, though Google encourages developers to avoid exact alarms whenever possible. The restriction doesn’t apply to alarm and calendar apps.
In the background, Google is also optimizing how Android’s internal broadcast system works. If you’re not familiar, this is basically Android communicating certain events to apps, such as when a specific battery level is reached or when airplane mode is entered or exited. Most of the changes to this system are supposed to be internal to Android and shouldn’t affect the way apps work, but developers have to know that in certain circumstances, context-registered broadcasts might be queued up before they’re sent to cached apps. In practice, this should lead to better standby battery life as the system has to wake up less often to send these broadcasts.
There will also be new Google Play policies that will force apps to adopt these new, more restrictive APIs, with the company saying that more details on this are coming soon.
Better accessibility thanks to bigger fonts and improved per-app language preferences
As it does with almost every Android release, Google is improving the accessibility of the system. Android 14 is making it possible to scale text up to 200% rather than the old maximum of 130%. In order to prevent any layout issues arising from this setting, Google is also introducing a non-linear font scaling curve. This will prevent text that is already large enough not to get bigger than necessary.
There are also changes to Android 13’s new per-app language options, which allow you to tweak the language individual apps are displayed in. Developers will be able to tweak which languages are displayed in the settings menu, allowing them to show different options for different regions or to run A/B tests on which languages should be supported.
For languages that have a grammatical gender, Android 14 introduces a new Grammatical Inflection API. This makes it easier to display different grammatical genders depending on how the app user should be addressed. Rather than having to tweak each string that uses a grammatical gender individually, developers only need to add inflected versions for every relevant term in a translation — the API takes care of the rest.
More security thanks to an installation block for older apps
As already spotted in inadvertently leaked source code, Google is restricting sideloading with Android 14. By default, you won’t be able to install apps that target an SDK version lower than 23, introduced 2015 with Android 6. Google explains that malware often uses SDK versions targeting older versions of Android to avoid restrictions part of SDK version 23 and higher. This will effectively make it much harder to get malware on devices, even when bad actors manage to convince users to sideload an app rather than getting it from the Play Store.
If you absolutely rely on an outdated app that targets an older version of Android, it will be possible to override the block by installing it using ADB with the adb install –bypass-low-target-sdk-block FILENAME.apk command.
Everything else we know about Android 14 so far
Other than the details Google shared about the developer preview above, we’ve learned a few more things about the upcoming Android release. That’s because Android is an open source project at its core, and Google needs to tweak some of the underlying code to make future features happen. The company also announced a few features ahead of time in other circumstances. In addition to that, there are also some leaks from various sources. With this out of the way, here is what we’ve learned so far.
Android 14’s internal code name is the only U dessert anyone could think of
All Android versions have fun codenames attached to them, following an alphabetical order. Google may not use them publicly for marketing anymore like it did in the past, but internally, these codes are still in use. With Android 13, known as Tiramisu, we all know that U is the next letter in the alphabet. As such, Google is going with the only obvious choice and calls its new baby “Android 14 Upside Down Cake.” It feels a bit like cheating, but here we are.
Gesture navigation will get a serious upgrade in Android 14
When Google introduced full gesture navigation in Android 10, it completely changed how many people use their phones. Since then, the company has only made small tweaks to gesture navigation, never completely reinventing how it works. While the company will likely stick with the way gestures currently work, Android 14 will offer a serious upgrade in the form of predictive back gestures, as Google shared in an Android Dev Summit panel. The system will offer new animations showing which screen you will navigate to next when you use the back gesture. This will work within apps and when your next move takes you to the homescreen.
It’s still unclear if it will also work when moving across apps. The biggest caveat right now is that app developers will have to build support for this feature, so it won’t necessarily be enabled for all apps on Android 14 by default.
You can already give this a try on your Pixel phone: When you activate a flag in the developer options on Android 13, you will see that some apps like Google Phone and Google News support predictive back gestures when your next navigation takes you to the homescreen. Android 14 is the next step for this experimental feature.
Android 14 will have a satellite connectivity option that’s similar to the iPhone 14
Apple has released a bunch of iPhones with emergency satellite connectivity. Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer has confirmed that Android will offer the same technology, saying he is excited to be “enabling all of this in the next version of Android!” Qualcomm modems will likely be first in line to offer support for this, as the Snapdragon manufacturer announced satellite support for its chips during its IFA 2022 keynote.
Bluetooth could learn to measure distances
Bluetooth is a versatile standard that revolutionized how we use wireless accessories like some of the best earbuds. In Android 14, the connectivity protocol might become even more useful. As spotted in the AOSP, Google is working on a new Bluetooth Distance Measurement API that would make it easier to find misplaced accessories. While it’s not as accurate as ultra wide-band (UWB), it could tell you if you’re moving closer or further away from a given connected Bluetooth device.
It’s possible that this API could also power Google’s upcoming Watch Unlock mechanism, which would keep your phone unlocked as long as your favorite smartwatch is close by.
Android 14 might decouple the share menu from the system and turn it into an independently-updated Project Mainline module. This would allow the company to push new versions of the component without a full system update. In the long term, this would mean that changes to the share sheet would arrive on all Android phones running Android 14 and higher. The change might be bitterly needed as the share sheet has become one of Android’s weak spots with much room for improvement.
Some devices might go 64-bit only
The Google Pixel Tablet is already rumored to offer a 64-bit only build of Android 13, and the same might be the case for many phones and tablets launching with Android 14. Based on documentation in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), devices that come with ARM v9 processor cores will have to go 64-bit only on the upcoming version of Android. With 2021’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 switching to the v9 architecture, we expect all upcoming flagship phones and tablets to become 64-bit only sooner rather than later.
Further changes we may see on Android 14
Some more features were spotted ahead of the Android 14 release:
- Android 14 could decouple TrustCor root certificates from system updates. Once phones running Android 14 become old and outdated, this could prevent them from losing internet access as they age and their certificates become outdated.
- Health Connect could become a preinstalled app on newly released phones and some updated phones. This would give all Android devices a central place to store and exchange your fitness data across various apps.
- Android 14 will likely introduce support for NTFS, the proprietary file format developed by Microsoft. It’s used on many external hard drives that are formatted for Windows, and Android could benefit greatly from supporting it.
- The efficient AV1 video codec could become mandatory on Android 14. It allows devices to save bandwidth without losing image and audio quality. The format is used by YouTube in certain circumstances, so having all devices support it in the long term is great news for your data plan.
Our wishlist for Android 14
While we now know which developer-focused changes will come to Android 14, a lot is left in the dark. That’s why we compiled a short wishlist of eight things we would love to see in Android 14. We focus on Google’s first-party software here, meaning we’re looking at how Android looks and behaves on Pixel devices.
A few of these options and features may be part of Android on some manufacturers’ devices already, but they may not have made the jump to AOSP or the Pixel software. Since Google makes many features it pioneers available to Android manufacturers, features first coming to Google phones often bring benefits to the whole Android market.
1. Bring back lock screen widgets
Apple revealed its new iPhone lock screen earlier this year at WWDC, and as we found out in our iOS 16 vs. Android 13 comparison, it’s awesome. The Cupertino company introduced the option to add widgets to the lock screen, complete with fancy personalization options.
We focus on the former because Android also supported lock screen widgets once upon a time. Up until version 4.4 (KitKat), it was possible to add widgets to the lock screen. You could either replace the clock at the top of the screen or add a widget on its panel. It was just a swipe to the right.
The system has always been gimmicky, though, with only a few useful applications. In any case, Samsung stuck with this functionality and still offers lock screen widgets on its Android skin One UI.
Left: iOS 16 lock screen widgets. Right: Old Android 4.2 lock screen widgets.
While you might wonder why Google would bring back a feature that it gave up on, this isn’t the first time Apple breathed new life into an Android feature that was languishing. The same happened when iOS introduced support for widgets, with Google suddenly becoming interested in the concept again. Following Apple’s footsteps, Google revamped how widgets worked on Android 12 and introduced redesigned widgets of its apps.
2. Give us stacked widgets
Speaking of widgets, Google may have found a new interest in the concept thanks to Apple. Plus, it may have introduced some needed enhancements to the underlying mechanics. Still, there’s more we wish for. Apple introduced the neat concept of stacked widgets, which allows you to add multiple widgets to the same place on your homescreen. To access them all, swipe through them.
We wish Google would implement this on Android, though the matter is a tad more complicated on the platform. Apple widgets aren’t scrollable or very interactive, so it’s easier to reserve a scroll gesture for a system feature like this.
However, it’s frustrating that Google almost created a system like this. Its At a Glance widget gives you information about upcoming events, connected devices, weather alerts, and more. It also lets you scroll horizontally through multiple entries when there is more than one. Google has been spotted working on its version of stacked widgets in Android 12, so there might be hope for Android 14.
3. Bring back dedicated Wi-Fi and mobile network toggles
In Android 12, Google decided it was time to spring clean the quick settings toggles. The company merged the Wi-Fi and mobile data options into a single Internet toggle. The toggle is confusing to use, making simple processes, such as disconnecting and reconnecting to your Wi-Fi network, an ordeal. Many of us do this daily, as internet connections can sometimes be fickle.
Depending on how poor your mobile connection is when you’re inside, it’s a good idea to turn off the mobile radio to save battery life. This is another thing the Internet toggle makes less intuitive.
4. Make third-party launchers smooth again
Since Google introduced gesture navigation to Android 10, third-party launchers have been left languishing. That’s because the default preinstalled launcher ties into the system deeper to provide smooth transitions between the homescreen, the Recents overview, and apps.
Third-party launchers don’t have the same privileges as the preinstalled one, leaving you with two choices: Either stick with the one that shipped with your phone and that may lack some features you would like, or deal with inconsistent animations in exchange for more advanced customizability.
The Lawnchair launcher
Ideally, Android 14 would give third-party launchers the option to hook into the system more deeply when they’re set as the standard option. It’s understandable that Google might be wary due to security concerns. There are also technical challenges to overcome since Android manufacturers have different animations and methods to achieve them. So it’s possible that custom launchers would have to be coded for specific phones.
5. Help developers make gesture navigation prettier in apps
Apple’s iPhones and iPads are pretty great at making gesture navigation feel natural and like a part deeply embedded in the system and in apps. However, on Android, gesture navigation still clashes with many apps.
Android apps often don’t draw content behind the navigation bar, leaving a block around the navigation bar. On iOS, this isn’t much of an issue. Most apps draw content in the area behind the navigation bar, and it makes for a more immersive experience.
While iOS developers have a handful of screen sizes and processors to support, Google could offer more help to developers for edge-to-edge navigation. Android app developer Pavlo Rekun told us in an interview that in a worst-case scenario, Android app developers have to adjust every view in their app to make the navigation bar transparent.
It’s understandable that large studios with tons of individual pages and views within their apps don’t have time for a small cosmetic decision, especially since not all Android users use gesture navigation. However, seeing more consistency and attention to detail on Android would be nice. To do that, Google will have to force developers or make things easier to implement.
While it’s possible that Google will not fulfill this wish, it’s great to see the company working on an even bigger project: Predictive back gesture navigation, which will show you which page you’re about to navigate to when you’re using the back gesture.
6. Bring back custom icon shapes and fonts to the Pixel
Android 11 officially added the option to change icon shapes, fonts, and some colors in the notification shade and settings on Pixel phones. This was removed once Android 12 rolled around with its Material You themes based on your wallpaper.
It makes sense to strip some options as they clash with this wallpaper-based theming. Still, while it was at it, Google went above and beyond to strip away all customization options, particularly icon shapes and fonts.
With Material You maturing and becoming more flexible and customizable (Android 13 added more color extraction combos), it would make sense for Google to reintroduce some of the customization options it removed in preparation for Material You. After all, it’s not clear how different icon shapes and fonts would clash with Material You’s colorful themes.
7. Add proper privacy controls for apps
Apple introduced privacy controls to iOS 14.5, which forces apps to ask users for approval to track them across other apps to create more accurate advertising models. Most people decline a request like this when asked from the get-go. Thus, advertising companies lost access to the data they previously relied on.
As much as we would love a feature like this on Android, it’s unlikely that Google will add something as powerful as Apple, and Google has made as much clear already. The company is currently working on the Privacy Sandbox, which promises to offer the best of both worlds for users and advertisers. The system is supposed to allow for personalized ads that utilize a new system feature rather than doing the tracking by themselves.
Google is an advertising company at its core, so a drastic solution like Apple’s would conflict with its interests. And even if it introduced an advanced option like this, competitors could quickly point out that Google is creating an unfair advantage for itself on its platform, leading to all sorts of legal issues. Still, one can dream, and we would love to have serious privacy controls on the platform.
8. Give us some Dynamic Island eye candy
Apple surprised everyone when it released its Dynamic Island for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. In contrast to Android manufacturers who make punch-hole selfie cameras as unobtrusive and hidden as possible (with some implementing stealthy under-display cameras, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and its predecessor), Apple fully embraced its pill-shaped display cutout.
It dynamically expands and shrinks to display background activities like timers, audio playback or recordings, fitness tracking, and more. Once third-party developers are allowed to hook into the system, the possibilities are endless.
A design mockup of what Google could do with notifications
Google could go two ways to counter Apple. The company could turn notification card backgrounds all black and make them feel like a part of the punch-hole camera on Pixel phones. Or, it might advance display and camera technologies and push the industry to under-display cameras.
Given that it will likely take some time for these under-display cameras to produce pretty images, Google would probably opt for something more Dynamic Island-like.
Android 13 and Android 12 before it hides the camera cutout in some circumstances
Google offers something like Dynamic Island with Android 12 and then 13, albeit not as elaborate. When you pull down the notification shade, the top part with the quick toggle settings retains a black background, regardless of whether you’re using a dark theme. This does its part to hide the camera cutout at the top. Google only has to think this concept a little further to make the camera cutout less visible and more a part of the interface.
Get the Android 14 developer preview right now
Android 14 is available for download for developers. In contrast to the beta release, which will come later, you won’t be able to join a program and get the preview build on your phone automatically. Instead, you’ll have to download the factory image and learn how to manually install the Android 14 Developer Preview on your phone.
Keep in mind that the software is specifically flagged as unstable and not meant for consumers, so you should only install it when you have a spare phone or when you’re okay with not being able to use your phone due to bugs.
