The latest beta of Android 13 is a final update that allows developers to make sure their apps are ready for the new Android release when it becomes available in a few weeks, says Google.
Android 13 includes a number of behaviour changes that will affect all apps running on it, regardless of their declared targetSdkVersion. Those include the possibility for a user to stop a foreground service using the Foreground Services Task Manager, which will terminate the entire app. Additionally, a new runtime notification permission is available in Android 13 aimed to increase user control on the delivery of notifications. If an app does not get permission from its users to display notifications, all notification channels will be blocked.
Another new feature aimed to improve privacy is the boolean flag EXTRA_IS_SENSITIVE that can be set for the ClipData’s ClipDescription to prevent any sensitive content such as passwords or credit card information from being displayed in clipboard previews.
A number of other changes only affect apps using given features of the SDK. For example, an app that sends an intent to another app will have that intent blocked unless it matches the <intent-filter> element in the receiving app. Likewise, apps working with media content will take into account the granular media permissions that are replacing the old READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions.
Android 13 also introduces many new features, like support for Bluetooth LE Audio, MIDI 2.0, a new photo picker, better multilanguage support, new copy and paste UI, and an improved Job scheduler that attempts to anticipate the next time an app is launched to prefetch required jobs ahead of time.
As a final note, Android 13 includes and extends support for tablets and large-screen devices introduced in Android 12 and 12L, including optimizations for system interface, improved multitasking through the new taskbar and multi-window mode, new compatibility modes, and more.
Developers interested in testing their apps running on Android 13 beta can enroll their Pixel devices and get the update over-the-air, or get the update from any partners for additional devices.