Android 17‘s stable build is still a few weeks away, but the operating system’s (OS) latest beta offers an experience that’s close enough.
Google just began rolling out Android 17 beta 3, and as indicated in its roadmap earlier this year, the beta has finally reached Platform Stability. This means that the OS’ underlying code and APIs are now finalized.
Android 17 will protect you from apps that deceptively gain accessibility permissions
The move could impact some popular apps
For developers, this means that they can begin their final compatibility testing and start pushing their Android 17-targeted apps to the Play Store.
On the other hand, for users, the beta brings a host of new capabilities for you to try out! Join the Android Beta Program to get the update over the air, or go the system images route.
Once updated, you’ll find these new bells and whistles:
Hidden app labels on the home screen
You’ll now be able to hide app names from showing up on the home screen. This should result in a slightly cleaner look for the home screen, provided you know each app’s symbol by heart.
Redesigned screen recording toolbar
We’ve seen this one before. The redesigned UI has shown up in previous leaks, and it’s finally going live with the third Android 17 beta.
Those are the major user-facing changes. For a deeper dive, you can read Google’s full changelog, which offers detailed information on changes like:
- Photo picker customization options
- Support for the RAW14 image format
- Vendor-defined camera extensions
- Camera device type APIs
- Bluetooth LE Audio hearing aid support
- Granular audio routing for hearing aids
- Performance and Battery Enhancements
- Privacy updates
- Better support for widgets on external displays
- Desktop Interactive Picture-in-Picture
- VPN app exclusion settings, and more.
