Android 13 Fourth Beta Update Released, Here’s What’s New

Google has released the fourth and final beta of Android 13. The official release of Android 13 will be next, says the company on the Android Developer Blog. The fourth beta update of Android 13 is especially meant for app developers to complete their final testing and development. As per the details shared by Google, the latest Android 13 build is a release candidate build for Pixel devices and the Android Emulator.

Here’s What New In Android 13 Fourth Beta Update

Google adds in the blog post that it has reached Platform Stability with the previous beta 3 release, so all app-facing surfaces are final, including SDK and NDK APIs, app-facing system behaviors, and restrictions on non-SDK interfaces. With the official Android 13 release just a few weeks ahead, Google is requesting all app and game developers to complete the final compatibility testing and publish the compatibility updates ahead of the final release.

To recall, the latest Android 13 OS version comes with new privacy features such as notification permission, a revamped photo picker, themed app icons, per-app language support, HDR video, and Bluetooth LE Audio. The latest Android 13 release doesn’t bring any major changes, except that it fixes a few bugs and brings stability improvements. Google says that developers should prepare for the following changes ahead of the final release:

• Runtime permission for notifications – Android 13 introduces a new runtime permission for sending notifications from an app. Make sure you understand how the new permission works, and plan on targeting Android 13 (API 33) as soon as possible. More here.
• Clipboard preview – Make sure your app hides sensitive data in Android 13’s new clipboard preview, such as passwords or credit card information. More here.
• JobScheduler prefetch – JobScheduler now tries to anticipate the next time your app will be launched and will run any associated prefetch jobs ahead of that time. If you use prefetch jobs, test that they are working as expected. More here.

If you are using a Pixel smartphone and are already enrolled in Google’s public beta program, you should receive this new build as an over-the-air update in the next few days. However, if you haven’t, you can enroll your Pixel device on Google’s website here. Once that is done, the new release will be available on your handset just like any other update.