Google presented the first beta version of its Android 14 mobile operating system on Tuesday, briefly withdrew the announcement and then put it back online. The beta version does not bring many innovations. Its advantage is the relatively easy installation on Google phones (Pixel 4a 5G and younger, as well as Android Emulator) – useful for compatibility tests of your own applications, not advisable for phones that are used in everyday life.
With Android 14 Google sets priorities in terms of data protection and visual representation. The cell phone operating system should look better on tablets and folding cell phones. Apps get insight into the paths of vector graphics. They can also recognize when the user takes a screenshot. Navigation is made easier with a new back arrow. Also new to Android 14 is an authentication API for passkeys.
News for accessibility
For accessibility, the font magnification is changed: it is no longer linear. This means that fonts that are already large are not enlarged as much as smaller fonts. At the same time, apps can restrict accessibility access: Sensitive content should only be accessible to real accessibility applications if the corresponding flags are set, not to every app that wants to use an accessibility interface. Google promises to keep an eye on the correct classification of apps in the Play Store.
Sharing content to other applications, on the other hand, becomes easier because developers can now submit their own suggestions for selecting the target app (via custom sharesheets). A new interface (Grammatical Inflection API) allows the gendered addressing of pt users.
These can also be enabled to set a preferred language for individual applications instead of just for the entire operating system. New system-wide settings affect regional customs such as the desired temperature unit (Celsius or Fahrenheit), the first day of the week or number preferences (how many myriads is a lakh crore?).
Outdated apps must stay outside
Outdated apps can no longer be installed on Android 14. A prerequisite for a new installation is that the application supports at least API level 23. (With Android 13, Google has already reached level 33.) This restriction is intended to improve security. With new API levels, Android has received new safeguards; Malware programmers therefore try to circumvent these hurdles by only targeting older API versions. Android 14 is supposed to prevent this trick. However, apps already installed on a device can continue to run after an update to Android 14.
In June, the SDK Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Native Development Kit (NDK) should be ready with the start of the platform stability phase. Until then, Google plans to release three more beta versions. Based on the experience of the last few years, the final release of Android 14 can be expected in August or September.
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