Android 13 Preview 1 released with themed icons, privacy changes

On February 9, Google released Android 12L Developer Preview #3, which should be released in March. On February 10, Google is also releasing Android 13 Developer Preview #1, which will hit devices sometime in the second half of the year. We now have Android Developer Previews for the next version of Android and beyond.

So what’s new in Android 13? Several leaks have already detailed Material You’s additional color options, a new notification system for users (both yet to be confirmed), and language settings for everyone (now confirmed!). Here are some of the more interesting facts that Google is willing to reveal at this early stage.

Themed icons are out of beta

In Android 12, a “beta version”for “themed icons”was included that made some Google icon images monochrome and gave the icons a round background to match your Stuff for You theme. The option pulled all the color out of the icon and reduced it to a shape.

However, we have never seen a fully working implementation of themed icons. The developers—if they want to make themed icons at all—couldn’t create them. The original themed icons in Android 12 were hardcoded, and Google never released the “beta feature”documentation. For Android 13, developers now just need to provide a “monochrome app icon and XML adaptive icon setting”and they will work with a themed icon.

It’s still hard to tell if any of these “themed icons”are a good idea. Resetting Google icon colors isn’t a big loss since the latest rebranding makes them the same rainbow color anyway. For third-party icons that often have distinct, recognizable colors, wouldn’t that just make it harder to find? It’s also unclear how the icons will work in the real world.

Google took the idea of ​​themed icons from the icon packs of the modding community. But in an icon pack, one designer creates a bunch of icons, and one user applies them. Deploying Google themed icons won’t work unless every developer in the world creates themed icons, which is hard to imagine. The modding community also doesn’t care about company branding priorities and just wants everything to match, while I can’t imagine Facebook favoring a Facebook badge that isn’t blue.

Share photos without storage permission

An application that doesn’t have access to the store can call the system document picker (which has access to the store) and the picker can redirect access to a single file you choose. It looks like the photo picker will provide the same for photos. Google says this feature will require new “Photo Picker APIs”that the app needs to support. I believe this system is great for things like messaging apps that want to share a picture, or an app that just needs a profile icon.

Interestingly, Google wants to bring this feature to older versions of Android via a Project Mainline update. Project Mainline (or “Google Play System Updates”since it’s been renamed) is a major Android project that allows major OS components to be updated through the Play Store, even if they require deep system permissions that make them unusable for an app. permission model. MediaProvidor has been added as a core module in Android 11 and Google wants to update it with a new photo picker which is a system level interface.

Speaking of the beloved Android modularity project, Google promises that Android 13 will have more Project Mainline modules, including modules for Bluetooth and ultra-wideband. Bluetooth is a notoriously messy standard, and devices of all ages and versions need to communicate with each other. It would be nice to be able to bring this terrible standard together through the Play Store. The Android team is apparently still working on a big Bluetooth update codenamed “Gabeldorsche”that has yet to hit the streets. It would be nice to be able to update this remotely if it ever gets released.