Android 14, the newest model of Google’s cellular working system, arrived on . Since then, it has slowly began rolling out to some newer telephones, tablets and foldables. Android 14’s user-facing enhancements broadly fall into 4 classes: accessibility, customization, privateness and safety. Beneath, is a listing of the entire replace’s greatest options, together with directions on how you can entry and allow them.
To compile this how-to, I used a Pixel 8, so what follows displays how issues are performed on inventory Android. On some telephones and tablets, sure choices could also be situated in different components of the working system or require a barely totally different course of to activate. Even when that’s the case, the directions right here ought to assist you to discover your manner round.
And if you wish to discover out when (or if) Android 14 will arrive in your gadget, try our devoted information. Briefly, many producers, together with OnePlus and Nothing, are nonetheless finalizing their first steady Android 14 builds, they usually might have extra time to finish bug and high quality assurance testing.
On the backside of this how-to, additionally, you will discover details about Google’s ongoing QPR betas, which embody bug fixes and enhancements the corporate is testing forward of its first Android 14 Pixel Characteristic Drop.
Accessibility
Flash notifications
New to Android 14 are flash notifications, a function that enables the OS to set off your cellphone’s digital camera flash or brighten the display screen when notifications arrive or an alarm goes off. That is significantly useful to individuals who could also be onerous of listening to. Beforehand, assist for flash notifications was spotty on Android, with some producers – most notably Samsung – providing it whereas others didn’t.
Customers can allow flash notifications from their gadget’s Settings menu. Swipe down from the highest of your cellphone’s display screen to entry the Notification Shade, then swipe down once more to develop the Fast Settings. Faucet the cog icon on the underside of proper of the display screen to entry the principle Settings menu. From there, faucet “Notifications,” then “Flash notifications.”
Two toggles can help you allow digital camera and display screen flashes independently of each other, and, for those who faucet “Display screen flash,” you can too tweak the colour of the flash, with Pixel telephones providing 12 totally different choices.
Improved assist for listening to aids
Flash notifications aren’t the one new Android 14 function for individuals who could also be onerous of listening to. In Android 13 and prior, Google grouped listening to aids in with different Bluetooth units. Now, the previous have their very own devoted web page inside Android 14’s settings.
To entry the web page, open the Settings app, scroll down and faucet “Accessibility,” then scroll down and faucet “Listening to units.” Right here you will see that an choice for pairing new listening to aids together with your cellphone, and a toggle that permits you to add devoted shortcuts for stated gadget. On Pixel units, customers can each add an accessibility button that lives on the aspect of their cellphone’s display screen, and configure the quantity buttons in order that while you maintain down each, your cellphone will take you on to the listening to units menu. There’s additionally a toggle that Google notes ought to enhance compatibility with telecoils and scale back undesirable noise.
Bigger fonts
For visually impaired customers, Google has added assist for bigger fonts and smarter scaling. On Pixel units, Android can now make textual content as much as 200 p.c bigger the place earlier than the utmost was 130 p.c. The brand new system is constructed round non-linear scaling, so textual content that’s already huge – reminiscent of titles and headings – gained’t improve in dimension as a lot as different, smaller parts.
To extend the dimensions of textual content and interface parts in your cellphone, open the Settings menu, then faucet “Show,” adopted by “Show dimension and textual content.” Along with two sliding scales that can help you change the dimensions of fonts and every little thing on display screen, this web page options two toggles you can activate to daring all textual content and allow excessive distinction fonts.
The primary time you tweak your cellphone’s font dimension settings, Android 14 will routinely add a font dimension settings choice to the ultimate web page of the short settings menu. You’ll be able to entry this menu by swiping down from the highest of your cellphone’s display screen to deliver down the notification shade. Swipe down once more to see the complete fast settings menu. To edit the order by which menu gadgets seem, faucet the pencil icon that seems when the complete fast settings menu is on display screen, after which maintain and drag the tiles you want to transfer.
Higher pinch to zoom performance
Along with extra sturdy font scaling, Android 14 encompasses a redesigned magnifier software that enables customers to rapidly customise how a lot of the display screen they’d wish to see enlarged. The panel presents 4 totally different magnifier sizes and the choice to allow diagonal scrolling. It additionally features a scale you need to use to extend or lower the zoom stage. To allow the panel, open the Settings menu, faucet “Accessibility” adopted by “Magnification. As with flash notifications, you possibly can bind the magnifier software to an on display screen accessibility button or each quantity buttons.
Customization
Extra wallpaper and lock display screen customization
Though technically not new to Android 14, it’s greater than probably that the 2 wallpaper options Google will arrive on most non-Pixel handsets alongside Android 14. The brand new options permit customers to create customized wallpapers with as much as 14 of their favourite emoji or with the assistance of a built-in AI picture generator.
The brand new customization settings are accessible straight from the homescreen. Lengthy press the house display screen and faucet the highest choice, “Wallpaper & fashion” to open the related menu. From there, you could find the brand new AI and Emoji wallpaper choices by tapping “Extra wallpapers.” Each choices are located on the prime of the interface.
The AI choice has a couple of limitations price maintaining in thoughts. To start out, you need to choose a theme. As of this text, there are 12 on provide. Moreover, Google doesn’t at the moment can help you write a immediate from scratch. As a substitute, every theme comes with a couple of parameters that the person can outline, and right here once more the choices are restricted to those Google provides you.
The brand new lock display screen customization choices are accessible from the highest of the “Wallpaper & fashion” display screen. Faucet “Lock display screen,” after which drag your finger or thumb both left or proper to scroll by way of the totally different choices. To tweak the colour and dimension of the clock, faucet “Clock colour & dimension.” For extra tweaks, together with the brand new choice so as to add as much as two shortcuts to your cellphone’s lock display screen, scroll down the interface.
Regional preferences
When you’re an American who lives overseas (or a foreigner who finds themselves regularly visiting the US), Android 14 permits customers to set system-wide preferences for whether or not apps ought to show temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit or deal with Sunday or Monday as the beginning of the week. Moreover, when you set these preferences, Android 14 is aware of to hold them over between backups. Individually, the OS presents extra sturdy assist for gendered languages like French and German.
To set your regional preferences, open the Settings menu, faucet “System,” then “Languages,” adopted by “Regional preferences.” Once I sat down to write down this story, looking for “Regional preferences” utilizing the Settings app’s built-in search function didn’t level me in the best course. When you run into the same situation, comply with the menu circulate described above.
Privateness and safety
Information safety
Android 14 makes it simpler to see how advertisers and different third events are utilizing your information – and thereby determine if you wish to limit your app permissions – with a brand new month-to-month notification that particulars any information sharing modifications the apps in your cellphone might have made prior to now 30 days. You don’t must enroll in these to begin seeing them, although a footnote on notes this function is barely accessible for sure apps.
Finish of assist for older apps
Android 14 doesn’t permit customers to put in apps that make use of utility programming interfaces (APIs) that date again to and earlier than Android 5.1. Google’s reasoning for that is that numerous malware packages goal vulnerabilities present in older and outdated APIs. In follow, that is principally prone to have an effect on older video games that haven’t been up to date in quite a lot of years. That stated, when you’ve got a Lollipop period app or sport put in in your cellphone while you go to obtain Android 14, it’s going to proceed to work even after your cellphone begins operating the brand new OS.
Extra nuanced photograph and video sharing
Borrowing a web page from iOS, Android 14 provides extra nuanced sharing choices for images and movies. Now, when an app requests entry to your media recordsdata, you possibly can select to offer it entry to all, none or solely a few of your images and movies. Beforehand, this was an all or nothing proposition. You must see a brand new immediate reflecting the redesigned permissions the primary time an app asks for entry to your images and movies.
If at any level you alter your thoughts, you possibly can overview your whole app permissions from the Settings app. After opening the menu, faucet “Apps,” then faucet the identify of this system you wish to overview (it’s possible you’ll must faucet “See all apps” to seek out the particular one you’re searching for), adopted by “Permissions” after which “Pictures and movies.” When you plan to alter the permissions for a couple of app, there’s a useful “See all apps with this permission” choice that can seem towards the underside.
Individually, Google has additionally tweaked Android’s Share Sheet. With Android 14, builders can add customized share targets to the interface, and the OS can pull in additional app information to higher inform the precedence of actions. In idea, this could make the Share Sheet extra persistently helpful.
PIN enhancements
With Android 14, the standard pin has acquired a pair of enhancements. First, there’s a brand new choice that permits you to disable the animation that performs on the lock display screen while you enter your PIN. In idea, this could make it tougher for onlookers to spy your code. Second, there’s a brand new auto-confirm choice that makes it so that you don’t must faucet “Okay” after tying out your PIN, thereby decreasing the time it takes to open your cellphone. For safety causes, that is solely accessible with six-digit PINs.
Each choices are discovered within the “Enhanced PIN privateness” part of the “Safety” settings menu. The auto-confirm unlock is enabled by default while you set a six-digit PIN.
The whole lot else
Battery life
Android 14 doesn’t embody any tentpole battery-related options like . Nonetheless, Google claims the OS must be much less of an influence hog, due to refinements the corporate made to how the software program handles background duties, downloads and uploads.
Well being Join integration
In late 2022, Google launched , a platform it collectively developed with Samsung to allow well being and health apps to extra simply share information between each other with out compromising on person privateness. With Android 14, Well being Join is built-in straight throughout the working system’s Settings. It’s accessible from the “Privateness” web page of the dashboard.
Extremely HDR
Lastly, Android 14 consists of built-in assist for Google’s new Extremely HDR image format. The format embeds a excessive dynamic vary tone map straight throughout the metadata of a picture. On units with HDR-compatible shows, Extremely HDR will produce photos with extra vibrant colours and distinction. The nifty factor in regards to the format is that it’s totally backward appropriate with most units. due to the actual fact it makes use of the .jpg extension. On units with SDR shows, the viewer will see an everyday SDR picture.
What in regards to the subsequent two Pixel Characteristic Drops?
As talked about above, Google is at the moment conducting two . For the uninitiated, these see the corporate testing tweaks that can ultimately arrive as a part of future Pixel Characteristic Drops. Google is anticipated to launch the primary one earlier than the tip of the yr and the one after that in March. You’ll be able to participate within the QPR1 and QPR2 betas by enrolling within the .
As soon as the primary Android 14 Pixel Characteristic Drop arrives, I’ll replace this text to element what’s new – for the reason that launch timing of particular options can change. Within the meantime, what follows is a non-exhaustive listing of the modifications Google has been testing. Credit score for recognizing many of those goes to former XDA Builders reporter .
QPR1
The spotlight of the primary beta is a redesigned “Software program updates” web page that’s simpler to seek out and brings collectively system, app and Play Retailer updates in a single place. Contemplating the quantity of faucets it at the moment takes to manually examine for updates, it is a welcome change.
One other notable enhancement sees Google tweaking the Pixel’s built-in Clock app so as to add climate data to the world clock web page. This variation is carried over to the app’s elective widgets.
QPR2
As for the second beta, the spotlight here’s a per-app display screen recording choice. It is a change Google has been teasing for some time, and it seems to be prefer it’s lastly on its manner early subsequent yr. Elsewhere, QPR2 provides an overview to the quantity slider, making it simpler to see simply how loud your cellphone is at any given second. Some individuals have additionally reported that QPR2 reduces the period of time it takes to put in software program updates anyplace from 10 to 20 minutes.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/android-14-googles-release-dates-new-features-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know-150057490.html?src=rss