Google’s Android launch cadence for Android has turn into a well-recognized annual ritual. A month in the past, the corporate introduced the primary developer preview of Android 14 and now, a month later, here’s the second one developer preview. Like with the primary launch, that is very a lot a model that’s nonetheless supposed for builders, with the extra public — and more uncomplicated to put in — betas scheduled to reach in April. Up to now, many of the options Google has mentioned have additionally been developer-centric, with just a few user-facing options uncovered to a long way. That still holds true for this 2d preview, which most commonly specializes in added new safety and privateness options.
Symbol Credit: Google
Possibly a very powerful new privateness characteristic value calling out right here — and one who might be user-facing — is that the brand new Android photograph picker will now ask customers if they simply need to give an app get right of entry to to choose footage as a substitute of all the time having to permit get right of entry to to each and every photograph and video on a given instrument. Google is looking builders to check this new habits with their apps to make sure that they may be able to care for this new permission and choice waft.
Android 14 will even characteristic a brand new screenshot detection API “to stop useless get right of entry to to a person’s information.”
Android 14 may be including a credential supervisor as a platform API — and thru a Jetpack Library with a Google Play Services and products implementation, it’ll fortify this again to Android 4.4 (that was once the KitKat launch from 2013). It’ll fortify passwords and passkeys. And whilst this was once already to be had within the first preview, Google notes that it has now progressed the person interface and made some API adjustments, too.
With this launch, Google may be introducing new optimizations to Android’s reminiscence control device, which can now extra briefly disallow background processes from apps that experience long past right into a cached state.
At the user-facing aspect, Google will now make it more uncomplicated for customers to extra granularly personalize a few of Android settings like temperature devices, first day of the week and numbering programs. ” A Eu residing in america would possibly desire temperature devices to be in Celsius fairly than Fahrenheit and for apps to regard Monday as the start of the week as a substitute of the United States default of Sunday,” Google explains, completely describing my very own non-public personal tastes as a Eu residing in america.
As Google notes, now could be the time for builders to begin their compatibility checking out to get in a position for the Android 14 launch later this yr. Device pictures are to be had for the Pixel 7 Professional, Pixel 7, Pixel 6a, Pixel 6 Professional, Pixel 6, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G), as smartly, after all, pictures for the Android Emulator.
With Google I/O now taking place on Might 10, likelihood is that we will be able to pay attention fairly somewhat extra about Android 14’s consumer-facing options then.
Symbol Credit: Google
Supply Through https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/08/googles-new-developer-preview-release-of-android-14-focuses-on-privacy-and-security/