The second Android 14 Developer Preview (opens in new tab) just landed, and we’re seeing a lot of major updates aimed at improving security and battery life.
To name a few, there’s a new API to support passwordless sign-in, streamlined app performance, and more control over data you share with individual apps. Let’s break down the big things coming down the pipeline.
Strengthen security
Android 14 works from the privacy platform of Android 12 and 13 and adds a few useful features to secure all the data that needs to be protected from potential prying eyes.
Aside from the details like UI styling updates for the credential manager and increased restrictions on apps that launch activities in the background, here are the two most notable features:
- Photo Picker: With this new feature, every time you open the “Allow *insert app name here* to access photos” dialog box, you’ll see an additional “Select Photos” option. This allows you to select individual photos and videos that will be temporarily made available to the app.
- More secure implicit intent: In non-developer language, this means that Android 14 will prevent unexpected code from being triggered by forcing app makers to make attempts to execute code explicitly. Anything nefarious developers try to sneak in through the back door must be stopped.
Optimize battery life
With every new version of Android comes a slew of optimizations to squeeze a little more battery life out of your phone and improve system health. This time there are two major updates:
- Background optimizations: Android’s memory management system gets an upgrade: system resources are better managed and battery life is extended by freezing most app processes when multitasking.
- Cut back on non-removable notifications: Ever thought that app developers make it inconvenient for you to quickly remove notifications? Google agrees, so it’s faster to swipe them away when your phone is unlocked (rather than using the “Dismiss” button in your notification tray.
Outlook
If you dare, you can download the beta version on any compatible Google Pixel phone. But this is only the second developer preview, so expect quite a few bugs.
For the rest of us waiting for the full release, there’s a lot to get excited about in Android 14 – minor tweaks to improve the overall experience rather than major drastic changes. That’s critical to continuing to iterate on Google’s mammoth mobile operating system.