Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering
As we speak we’re releasing Android 14 and pushing the Android 14 supply to the Android Open Supply Venture (AOSP). Android 14 is designed to enhance your productiveness as builders whereas enhancing efficiency, privateness, safety, and customization for customers.
Android 14 is rolling out to pick Pixel units beginning in the present day, and can be accessible later this 12 months on a few of your favourite units from Samsung Galaxy, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo and Xiaomi.
Thanks for taking the time to take Android 14 for an early spin although our developer preview and beta packages, sharing your suggestions, and ensuring your apps ship an important expertise on Android 14. Making Android work effectively for every one of many billions of Android customers is a collaborative course of between us, Android {hardware} producers, and also you, our developer neighborhood.
This put up covers a collection of Android 14 adjustments which have probably the most developer influence. For an entire listing of the entire Android 14 adjustments, go to the Android 14 developer web site.
Efficiency and Effectivity
An enormous focus of Android 14 was on bettering the efficiency and effectivity of the platform.
Freezing cached functions
Previous to Android 14, cached functions have been allowed to run considerably unconstrained. In Android 14, we freeze cached functions after a brief time frame, giving them 0 CPU time. In Android 14 Beta populations, we see that cached processes devour as much as 50% much less CPU cycles as in comparison with Android 13 public units. Thus, background work is disallowed exterior of standard Android app lifecycle APIs akin to foreground companies, JobScheduler, or WorkManager.
Optimized broadcasts
To maintain frozen functions frozen longer (i.e. not get CPU time), we adjusted how apps obtain context-registered broadcasts as soon as they go right into a cached state; they might be queued, and repeating ones, akin to BATTERY_CHANGED, could also be merged into one broadcast.
Quicker app launches
With cached app and broadcast optimizations In Android 14, we have been in a position to enhance long-standing limits on the utmost variety of cached functions within the platform, resulting in a discount in chilly app begins that scales by the RAM current on the gadget. On 8GB units, the beta group noticed 20% fewer chilly app begins, and on 12GB units it was over 30% fewer. Chilly startups are gradual in comparison with heat startups and they’re costly when it comes to energy. This work successfully improves each energy utilization and general app startup instances.
Lowered reminiscence footprint
Bettering the Android Runtime (ART) has a big impact on the Android user-experience. Code dimension is likely one of the key metrics we take a look at; smaller generated recordsdata are higher for reminiscence (each RAM and storage). In Android 14, ART consists of optimizations that cut back code dimension by a median of 9.3% with out impacting efficiency.
Customization
Customization is on the core of Android’s DNA, and Android 14 continues our dedication to enabling Android customers to tune their expertise round their particular person wants, together with enhanced accessibility and internationalization options.
Larger fonts with non-linear scaling – Beginning in Android 14, customers will be capable to scale up their font to 200%. Beforehand, the utmost font dimension scale on Pixel units was 130%. A non-linear font scaling curve is robotically utilized to make sure that textual content that’s already giant sufficient doesn’t enhance on the similar charge as smaller textual content. Be taught extra right here.
Per-app language preferences – You may dynamically replace your app’s localeConfig with LocaleManager.setOverrideLocaleConfig to customise the set of languages displayed within the per-app language listing in Android Settings. IMEs can now use LocaleManager.getApplicationLocales to know the UI language of the present app to replace the keyboard language. Beginning with Android Studio Giraffe and AGP 8.1, you possibly can configure your app to help Android 13’s per-app language preferences robotically.
Regional preferences – Regional preferences allow customers to personalize temperature items, the primary day of the week, and numbering methods.
Grammatical Inflection – The Grammatical Inflection API means that you can extra simply add help for customers who converse languages which have grammatical gender. To indicate personalised translations, you simply want so as to add translations inflected for every grammatical gender for impacted languages and combine the API.
New media capabilities
Extremely HDR for photographs – Android 14 provides help for 10-bit excessive dynamic vary (HDR) photographs, with help for the Extremely HDR picture format. The format is totally backward-compatible with JPEG, permitting apps to seamlessly interoperate with HDR photographs.
Zoom, Focus, Postview, and extra in Digital camera Extensions – Android 14 upgrades and improves Digital camera Extensions, permitting apps to deal with longer processing instances, enabling improved photographs utilizing compute-intensive algorithms like low-light images on supported units.
Lossless USB audio – Android 14 units can help lossless audio codecs for audiophile-level experiences over USB wired headsets.
New graphics capabilities
Customized meshes with vertex and fragment shaders – Android 14 provides help for customized meshes, which could be outlined as triangles or triangle strips, and may, optionally, be listed. These meshes are specified with customized attributes, vertex strides, various, and vertex/fragment shaders written in AGSL.
{Hardware} buffer renderer for Canvas – Android 14 introduces HardwareBufferRenderer to help in utilizing Android’s Canvas API to attract with {hardware} acceleration right into a HardwareBuffer, which is especially useful when your use case entails communication with the system compositor by way of SurfaceControl for low-latency drawing.
Creating throughout type components
Android 14 builds on the work executed in Android 12L and 13 to help tablets and foldable type components together with a taskbar supporting enhanced multitasking, large-screen optimized system apps and notification UI, exercise embedding, enhanced letterboxing, improved media projection, and extra. Our app high quality steering for big screens together with further studying alternatives round constructing for big screens and foldables may also help optimize your app throughout all Android surfaces, whereas the giant display screen gallery incorporates design patterns and inspiration for social and communications, media, productiveness, procuring, and studying apps.
Bettering your productiveness
Android 14 incorporates many updates centered on making your improvement expertise extra constant, enjoyable, and productive. Many of those updates are being made accessible on older platform releases utilizing a mix of Google Play system updates, Jetpack libraries, and Google Play companies, so you possibly can attain extra customers with them.
OpenJDK 17 Help – Due to Google Play system updates (Venture Mainline), over 600M units are enabled to obtain the most recent Android Runtime (ART) updates that ship with Android 14. Be taught extra right here.
Credential Supervisor and Passkeys help – Credential Supervisor is a brand new Jetpack API that helps a number of sign-in strategies, akin to username and password, passkeys, and federated sign-in options (akin to Signal-in with Google) in a single API, simplifying your integration. Utilizing Google Play companies, Credential Supervisor is supported again to Android 4.4 (API degree 19). Learn extra right here.
Well being Join – Well being Join is a person managed on-device repository for person well being and health information that makes it simpler than ever to help an built-in well being and health expertise throughout apps and linked units. Well being Join is a part of the Android platform and receives updates by way of Google Play system updates with out requiring a separate obtain, and is accessible to older units as an app on the Google Play retailer. Examine Well being Join and extra in What’s new in Android Well being.
Superior system sharesheets – To make it straightforward to offer your app’s customers a wealthy, constant, sharing expertise, the system sharesheets in Android 14 are configurable with customized actions and improved rating.
Extra constant and dependable foreground companies– We have collaborated with {hardware} producers akin to Samsung to create each a extra constant developer expertise and a extra dependable person expertise. To this finish, Android 14 has a brand new requirement to declare foreground service varieties and request type-specific permissions and we now have Google Play insurance policies to implement applicable use of those APIs. We have additionally added a brand new user-initiated information switch job kind, making the expertise of managing giant user-initiated uploads and downloads smoother by leveraging JobScheduler’s constraints (e.g. community constraints akin to unmetered WiFi).
Consumer expertise
Predictive Again – Android 14 introduces new Predictive Again system animations – cross-activity and cross-task – to hitch the back-to-home animation launched in Android 13. The system animations stay behind a developer possibility to permit time for added polish and for extra apps to opt-into Predictive Again; Materials and Jetpack Predictive Again animations can be found to customers in the present day.
Privateness and safety
Information sharing updates – Customers will see a brand new part within the location runtime permission dialog that highlights when an app shares location information with third events, the place they will get extra data and management the app’s information entry.
Partial entry to photographs and movies – When your app concentrating on SDK 34 requests any of the visible media permissions launched in SDK 33 (READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO), Android 14 customers can now grant your app entry to solely chosen photographs and movies. To adapt your app to this variation, we advocate following our current finest practices.
Background exercise launching – Android 10 (API degree 29) and better place restrictions on when apps can begin actions when working within the background. To additional cut back cases of sudden interruptions, apps concentrating on Android 14 must grant privileges to begin actions within the background when sending a PendingIntent or when binding a service.
Block set up of apps concentrating on older SDK variations – To guard towards malware that targets older API ranges to bypass safety and privateness protections, apps with a targetSdkVersion decrease than 23 can’t be put in on Android 14.
Runtime receivers – Apps concentrating on Android 14 should point out if dynamic Context.registerReceiver() utilization must be handled as “exported” or “unexported”, a continuation of the manifest-level work from earlier releases. Be taught extra right here.
Safe full display screen Intent notifications – Since full-screen intent notifications are designed for terribly high-priority notifications demanding the person’s speedy consideration, Android 14 limits the apps granted this permission on app set up to people who present calling and alarms solely. Your app can now launch the settings web page the place customers can grant the permission.
Safer dynamic code loading – Apps concentrating on Android 14 require dynamically loaded recordsdata to be marked as read-only. Be taught extra right here.
Safer implicit intents – For apps concentrating on Android 14, making a mutable pending intent with an implicit intent will throw an exception, stopping them from having the ability to be used to set off sudden code paths. Apps must both make the pending intent immutable or make the intent express. Be taught extra right here.
App compatibility
We’re working to make updates sooner and smoother with every platform launch by prioritizing app compatibility. In Android 14 we’ve made most app-facing adjustments opt-in till your app targets SDK model 34 to offer you extra time to make any needed app adjustments, and we’ve up to date our instruments and processes that will help you prepare sooner.
Simpler testing and debugging of adjustments – To make it simpler so that you can check the opt-in adjustments that may have an effect on your app, we’ll make a lot of them toggleable once more this 12 months. With the toggles, you possibly can force-enable or disable the adjustments individually from Developer choices or adb. Try the main points right here.
Get your apps, libraries, instruments, and recreation engines prepared!
Now’s the time to complete your ultimate compatibility testing and publish any needed updates to make sure a easy app expertise.
When you develop an SDK, library, software, or recreation engine, it is much more necessary to launch any needed updates now to stop your downstream app and recreation builders from being blocked by compatibility points and permit them to focus on the most recent SDK options. Please make certain to let your builders know if updates are wanted to completely help Android 14.
Testing your app entails putting in your manufacturing app onto a tool working Android 14; you should utilize Google Play or different means. Work by way of all of the app’s flows and search for purposeful or UI points. Assessment the conduct adjustments to focus your testing. Every launch of Android incorporates adjustments to the platform that enhance privateness, safety, and the general person expertise, and these adjustments can have an effect on your apps. Listed here are some high adjustments to check:
Bear in mind to train libraries and SDKs that your app is utilizing in your compatibility testing. It’s possible you’ll must replace to present SDK variations or attain out to the developer for assist.
When you’ve printed the suitable model of your present app, you can begin the course of to replace your app’s targetSdkVersion. Assessment the conduct adjustments that apply when your app targets Android 14 and use the compatibility framework to assist detect points shortly.
Get began with Android 14
You probably have a supported Pixel gadget, and usually are not enrolled within the Android Beta program, you’ll obtain the general public Android 14 OTA replace because it turns into accessible (it might take per week or longer as it is a phased rollout depending on gadget kind and service). If you’re at the moment enrolled within the Android Beta program working Android 14, you possible have obtained and put in the beta of the following Android 14 quarterly platform launch (QPR1).
System photographs for Pixel units are accessible right here for handbook obtain and flash, and you may get the most recent 64-bit Android Emulator system photographs by way of the Android Studio SDK Supervisor. When you’re on the lookout for the Android 14 supply, you will discover it right here within the Android Open Supply Venture repository beneath the Android 14 branches.
For the very best improvement expertise with Android 14, we advocate that you just use the most recent launch of Android Studio Hedgehog. When you’re arrange, listed below are among the issues it’s best to do:
- Attempt the brand new options and APIs. Report points in our tracker on the suggestions web page.
- Check your present app for compatibility – be taught whether or not your app is affected by default conduct adjustments in Android 14. Set up your app onto a tool or emulator working Android 14 and extensively check it.
- Check your app with opt-in adjustments – Android 14 has opt-in conduct adjustments that solely have an effect on your app when it’s concentrating on the brand new platform. It’s necessary to grasp and assess these adjustments early. To make it simpler to check, you possibly can toggle the adjustments on and off individually.
- Replace your app with the Android SDK Improve Assistant – Android Studio Hedgehog now filters and identifies the particular Android 14 API adjustments which might be related to your app, and walks you thru the steps to improve your targetSdkVersion with the Android SDK Improve Assistant.
Thanks once more for collaborating in our Android developer preview and beta program! We’re wanting ahead to seeing how your apps make the most of the updates in Android 14.
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