Android 13 Beta 4 is here to convince you it’s ready to be your daily driver
Google is on a roll with itsAndroid 13beta program. On the heels of last month’sBeta 3 launch— along withseveralmid-cyclepatchesto work out some surprise bugs — the company has returned with Beta 4. As the final release on Google’s Android 13 timeline, this update is a release candidate version, representing the last round of testing before we get a stable launch later this summer.
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As you might expect, Beta 4 is short on new changes. While Beta 3 reached platform stability, a release candidate takes things even further.Today’s blog postmentions a number of fixes and optimizations ahead of a final launch, along with thesespecific patch notes:
Developer-reported issues
Other resolved issues
Really, today’s update is all about developers preparing their apps for the official launch of Android 13, which Google now says is set to happen in just a few weeks. That’s much faster than last year’s Android 12 launch, whichdidn’t go live until the start of October— and didn’t hit Pixel phones until a few weeks later. This year’s update is a much smaller one, enhancing many of the features first introduced last year while placing a new emphasis on both privacy and security. Clearly, focusing on under-the-hood changes has allowed Android 13 to arrive faster than anticipated.
If you’re feeling impatient, theOTA filesare already up onGoogle’s downloads site— a nice shift from last month’s beta, where we were left waiting for hours into the afternoon. Any Pixel phone already enrolled in the program should receive an update later this afternoon. If you had yet to jump into thebeta program, this is your final chance before Android 13 ships sometime next month. If you’re curious to see what all the hype is about, it might be worth jumping in — otherwise, there are only a few short weeks to go before this year’s big upgrade is ready for everyone.
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