Following the release of two developer previews in February and March, Google announced the very first Android 13 beta build is available for general testing today. And, as with all Android betas, it’s much easier to install and test than the Developer Preview builds have been.
That’s by design, as there should be no huge, horrible, show-stopping bugs by now. Having said that, users are still prone to experiencing a slew of bugs, as this is the first of four scheduled beta testers well before the final release later in the year.
Android 13 Beta 1 introduces new permissions that enable more granular access to media files, as well as enhanced audio routing APIs. Apps that wish to access the media on your phone now require three distinct permissions: one for images and photos, one for videos, and another for audio files. Earlier, all of these were combined into a single “media access” permission, which enabled the app to access all forms of media if permitted. However, not any longer.
When you provide one of the new permissions, the corresponding app will be granted just read-only access to the associated media file types. When Android 13 comes out, developers will need to change their apps to use this new permissions framework. Furthermore, there are some minor changes to audio routing and improved error reporting for apps that generate keys, although these are likely to be of the most importance to application developers.
The corporation will publish additional details about Android 13, including new features, next month at the Google I/O developer conference, and it’s quite probable that the second beta will arrive around that time to highlight the newly unveiled features.
How to register, download, and install Android 13 Beta 1 on your Google Pixel device:
If you want to try out Android 13 Beta 1 and have an actually supported Google Pixel smartphone, simply go to the Android Beta Program webpage here and register your device. This beta update is now available for the Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 4a, Pixel 4 XL, or Pixel 4.