Android Developers Blog: The First Beta of Android 17

With Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3, Google expanded the frosted-glass-like background blur to more parts of the UI, like the power menu, widget picker, and even app folders. Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1 introduced subtle background blur (as mentioned above) to specific parts of the Android UI, namely the notification shade, Quick Settings panel, and Recents screen. These changes were spotted and enabled in Android 16 Beta 4 and are widely available in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, but they are unlikely to be available in the Android 16 stable release.

Less intrusive phone call notifications

In Android 16 Beta 4, there’s evidence that Google is working to add a gesture to turn off the screen with a double-tap on the lock screen, and we managed to activate the gesture for a first look. The redesigned “Noto 3D” emojis on Android are expected to arrive “later this year.” These new emojis will arrive on Pixel devices first and roll out through Gboard, YouTube, and Gmail. We know from strings in Android Canary 2601 release that locked apps will still receive visible notifications, but the notification content will not be visible.

• Previously, you had to implement workarounds, sometimes allocating unnecessary physical streams, to obtain metadata from secondary active cameras (e.g., during a lens switch for zoom where a follower camera is active).
• Local Network Protection will eventually require apps to request specific permission to access the local network.
• With the Android 17 Beta 2 release, Google officially announced the EyeDropper API, which allows apps to request a color from any pixel on the display without requiring sensitive screen-capture permissions.
• With Android 17 Beta 3, Google is introducing a new location button that apps can use to request the user’s precise location for one session (i.e., until you close the app).
• With Android 17 Beta 3, widget padding, text size, and layout attributes automatically scale based on the density difference between the app’s original context and the target display.

Customizable keyboard shortcuts

More importantly, the “Microphone, Camera & Location” dialog now correctly lists the specific apps accessing your location. Unlike the solid green background used for camera and microphone alerts, the location indicator uses a solid blue background (though the system reverts to green if multiple permissions are in use). To try it out, open the Terminal app and tap the Display button in the top-right corner to launch a session that supports graphical output. Android 16 QPR2 introduces a built-in Parental Controls menu that provides a centralized location for managing device-specific restrictions. In Android 16 QPR1, this has changed to display the same UI element that you’d see in the notification shade, where you can hang up, toggle the speaker, and mute your microphone.
Even though the Internet Panel offered more functionality, users weren’t happy because it required more steps to toggle mobile data and Wi-Fi. For non-messaging notifications, the text will change to “New notification” without revealing the notification’s contents. The changes are pretty voluminous to list here, so check out our original coverage for the whole scoop. With the above-mentioned Material 3 Expressive changes, Google is also planning a big UI overhaul for Android and expressive animations to accompany it. As a result, we have a list of features that are coming to upcoming Android 16 QPR releases for Pixel devices, which are also likely to be added to the next Android platform update, Android 17. A close look at an official screenshot (seen above) shows a menu displaying Play Protect status, bootloader status, and build number info.

Storage

Android’s default user interface is mainly based on direct manipulation, using touch inputs that loosely correspond to real-world actions, like swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching to manipulate on-screen objects, along with a virtual keyboard. The platform is also focused on supporting developers with tools like ARCore and Unity to build applications for upcoming XR devices. It is a new operating system developed by Google, designed for virtual reality and augmented reality devices, such as VR headsets and smart glasses. Under such sanctions Huawei has long-term plans to replace Android in 2022 with the new operating system, as Harmony OS was originally designed for internet of things devices, rather than for smartphones and tablets.

Features

Users can tap the indicator to see exactly which apps have recently accessed their location and manage those permissions immediately through a “Recent app use” dialog. The expanded bubble bar shows only the five most recently opened bubbles, though the bubble overflow menu lists other previously opened bubbles. Once activated, the launcher adds a “bubble” button to the context menu that appears when you press and hold on any app on the home screen.

The app will not receive any subsequent updates you make to a contact’s information, further protecting your privacy by preventing apps from tracking changes over time. This feature works only for conversation notifications and can be opted out of, so many apps don’t support it. With the Android 17 Beta 2 release, Google officially announced the EyeDropper API, which allows apps to request a color from any pixel on the display without requiring sensitive screen-capture permissions. This new, native solution means developers will no longer need to build their own in-app color pickers or import third-party libraries, simplifying development, saving time, and slightly reducing their apps’ file size. The Android ExoPlayer automatically supports this functionality if loudness metadata is present in the media.
Due to the lack of Android tablet-specific applications in 2011, early Android tablets had to make do with existing smartphone applications that were ill-suited to larger screen sizes, whereas the dominance of Apple’s iPad was reinforced by the large number of tablet-specific iOS applications. According to Gartner research company, Android-based devices outsold all contenders, every year since 2012. Research company Canalys estimated in the second quarter of 2009, that Android had a 2.8% share of worldwide smartphone shipments. Thus, forks of Android that make major changes to the operating system itself do not include any of Google’s non-free components, stay incompatible with applications that require them, and must ship with an alternative software marketplace in lieu of Google Play Store.

• The changes are pretty voluminous to list here, so check out our original coverage for the whole scoop.
• Some other hardware was initially required, but those requirements have been relaxed or eliminated altogether.
• If you’d like to try the changes ahead of its stable rollout, you can already do so, starting with Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1.
• It is not possible, for example, to turn off the microphone access of the pre-installed camera app without disabling the camera completely.
• One of those components, Google Play Services, is a closed-source system-level process providing APIs for Google services, installed automatically on nearly all devices running Android 2.2 “Froyo” and higher.
• This release confirms the key features we’ll see in the Android 17 stable update.
• For non-messaging notifications, the text will change to “New notification” without revealing the notification’s contents.

Android 17 Beta 3 lets users independently manage where specific system sounds are spinalto casino played in their hearing device. For example, you’ll be alerted when the clock has changed for daylight saving time. With Android 17 Beta 3, users can now receive alerts when their phone’s clock performs a scheduled change.

Requirements (Latest version)

Shortly afterwards, Google acquired the company in July of that year for at least $50 million; this was Google’s “best deal ever” according to Google’s then-vice president of corporate development, David Lawee, in 2010. Android is an operating system owned by Google which is based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other free and open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen-based mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.