Android 13 is the thirteenth major release of the Android mobile operating system, developed by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, released for the public on August 15, 2022.

History

Android 13 (internally codenamed

Tiramisu Tiramisu ( it, tiramisù , from , "pick me up" or "cheer me up") is a coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers (savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured w ...

, after the Italian dessert) was announced in an Android blog posted on February 10, 2022, and the first Developer Preview was immediately released for the Google Pixel series (from

Pixel 4 The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. They were officially ...

to Pixel 6, dropping support for the

Pixel 3 The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. They were officially a ...

and

Pixel 3a The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as mid-range variants of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. They were official ...

). It was released 4 months or so after the stable version of

Android 12 Android 12 is the twelfth major release and 19th version of Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. The first beta was released on May 18, 2021. Android 12 was released publicly on October ...

. Developer Preview 2 followed later, releasing in March. Beta 1 was released on April 26, 2022. Google released beta 2 during Google I/O on May 11, 2022. Two more beta versions were planned for release in June and July. Platform stability was reached in June, with Beta 3. The final release of Android 13 began on August 15 when the update was made available to Pixel phones and pushed to the

Android Open Source Project Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of deve ...

Features

Privacy

Android 13 includes several new features intended to enhance user privacy, both user-facing and developer-facing. A new media picker is added, which improves privacy by allowing users to choose which photos and videos apps have access to. Most apps have not implemented this picker yet. In addition, Android 13 introduces a new permission, NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES. Previously, Wi-Fi and GPS permissions were bundled into a single setting termed "Location". This change means that apps can now be allowed to search for nearby devices and networks without needing to request access to broader navigational systems. Also, a new runtime permission feature is being added to apps sending non-exempt notifications which allows users to focus on notifications most important to them.

User experience

Apps are now required to request permission from the user before they are able to send notifications. Small changes to dialog windows such as the Internet toggle have been added, making them fit better with the design language. The media player has been redesigned, now using the album cover as a background, and including more user controls. The multiple users feature has been improved, with the added option of selecting which apps can be accessed by the guest user. App data is sandboxed for each user, so no information is shared.

New features

The number of active apps is now shown at the bottom of the notifications panel, a tap on it opens a detailed panel which lets the user stop each of them. Support for Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 audio codec, which enables receiving and sharing audio between multiple bluetooth devices simultaneously; it can also improve the audio quality and battery life of the connected devices, as long as they also support it. This version opens the support for third-party apps to use themed Material You icons. Long-pressing and dragging a notification will allow the notification to open in split screen view. This feature is available on phones as well as tablets. As of Beta 2, the Pixel launcher includes a new "unified" search bar, which is able to provide search results from the internet as well as local apps and activities. It seems that Google will be expanding the capabilities of this search tool in future releases.

Tweaks

Split Screen mode now persists through app changes, meaning it is possible to use other apps and the phone launcher, and split screen apps will stay paired together in the Overview menu. Animations have been improved, notably the fingerprint scanner glow on the Pixel 6 series. Overflow notifications on the lock screen also are housed in a dynamically sized pill rather than a bar, and the 2-line stacked clock is slightly smaller. The app label font has been changed in the Pixel Launcher, and subtle haptics have been added throughout the user experience. The Android version has been changed to "Tiramisu" in settings and the Quick Settings panel. As of Developer Preview 2, "Tiramisu" is replaced with "13". The unified search bar includes new smoother animations and transitions. Many of the changes are from Android 12.1 "12L", such as the dock displayed on large screens, and other improvements for large format devices. These are mainly intended for foldables and tablets, but they can be enabled on phones by changing the DPI settings.

Platform

Android 13 ART was updated with a new

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(GC) utilizing the

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...

userfaultfd

system call In computing, a system call (commonly abbreviated to syscall) is the programmatic way in which a computer program requests a service from the operating system on which it is executed. This may include hardware-related services (for example, acc ...

. It reduces memory pressure, compiled code size, jank and prevents the risk of killing apps because of low memory during GC. Other changes improve app startup and improve performance. Because of the Mainline project, Android 12 ART will also be updated.

In popular culture

There is a trend on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...

where people attempt to install "Adrod 13" on their devices using a crudely written app written on MIT App Inventor, and clicking the install button will result in a fake "brick" screen appearing on their device along with a toast notification. Videos with this app ranked millions of views on TikTok. https://slang.net/meaning/adrod

References

External Links

Android 13
- Official website for users
Android 13 on Android Developers
- Official website for developer information {{Portal bar, Internet Android (operating system) 2022 software