Android 14 public beta launched

Google has rolled out the first of four planned public betas of its upcoming mobile operating system (OS) — Android 14.

The release of Android 14 Beta 1 comes after it launched two developer previews of the OS.

The company said the beta was built around the core themes of privacy, security, performance, developer productivity, and user customisation.

It only offers a handful of new features for end-users.

In terms of UI tweaks, users will now see a more prominent back arrow when using gesture-based navigation to navigate to a previous section of an app.

The new arrow will complement the user’s chosen wallpaper or theme.

Secondly, enhanced per-app language preferences let users change their preferred language for individual apps.

The other changes are to the benefit of app developers.

These include more in-app graphics features and the ability to add custom actions to system sharesheets invoked within their apps.

The sharesheets have also been improved to better rank the most likely sharing targets.

To enrol in the Android beta, you need to have a supported Google Pixel device, which includes the following:

• Pixel 4a (5G)
• Pixel 5
• Pixel 5a
• Pixel 6
• Pixel 6 Pro
• Pixel 6a
• Pixel 7
• Pixel 7 Pro

Now read: Google wants Android app developers to let you delete your account

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Android 14 public beta launched