After the release of the first Android 13 beta a couple of weeks back, Google has released the second beta of Android 13. This brings the latest features for privacy and security, new notification permission, the privacy-protecting photo picker, and improved permissions for pairing with nearby devices and accessing media files.
Android 13 introduces predictive back gesture for Android devices such as phones, large screens, and foldables. This will let users preview the destination or other result of a back gesture before they fully complete it, allowing them to decide whether to continue or stay in the current view. Starting with the Android 13 final release, users can test this back-to-home animation by enabling a developer option.
Resource files for specifying supported app languages
Google already announced that Android 13 will bring APIs that let apps set a different language at runtime to display in their user interface. With the beta 2 of Android 13, developers can now specify what languages their app will support so that users can choose languages on a per-app basis.
New permission to use exact alarms
If your app targets Android 13, you can use the USE_EXACT_ALARM permission, which is automatically granted to your app. In order for your app to use this permission, however, it must satisfy at least one of the following criteria:
- Your app is an alarm app or a clock app.
- Your app is a calendar app that shows notifications for upcoming events.
If you are already running Android 13 Beta 1, the new beta update is already rolling out. You can also sign up for beta program from 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.
The beta 3 update with final APIs and behaviors will be available in June, and beta 4 final build for final testing will roll out in July. The stable roll-out should begin sometime in August.