Android 10 (
codenamed Android Q during development) is the
tenth major release and the 17th version of the
Android mobile operating system
A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on ...
. It was first released as a developer preview on March 13, 2019, and was released publicly on September 3, 2019.
Android 10 was officially released on September 3, 2019, for supported
Google Pixel
Google Pixel is a brand of consumer electronic devices developed by Google that run either ChromeOS or the Android operating system. The Pixel brand was introduced in February 2013 with the first-generation Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel line inc ...
devices, as well as the third-party
Essential Phone and
Redmi K20 Pro
Redmi K20 Pro and Redmi K20 (Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro and Xiaomi Mi 9T globally) are smartphones introduced by the Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi in an event held in China. A Premium variant for the Pro was later revealed, with the Snapdragon 855+, a new 512 GB/1 ...
in selected markets. The
OnePlus 7T was the first device with Android 10 pre-installed. In October 2019, it was reported that Google's certification requirements for
Google Mobile Services
Google Mobile Services (GMS) is a collection of proprietary applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) services from Google that are typically pre-installed on Android devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. GMS ...
will only allow Android 10-based builds to be approved after January 31, 2020.
As of March 2022, 23.2% of Android devices ran Android 10 (API 29), making it the second most used version of Android. On tablets Android 10 is 6th most popular single Android version at 6.64%, followed by Android Nougat 7.0 and 7.1 in that order, while the two Nougat versions are more popular combined on tablets at 11.04%.
History
![Android Q Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/AndroidQlogo.svg)
Google released the first beta of Android 10 under the preliminary name "Android Q" on March 13, 2019, exclusively on their
Pixel phones, including the first-generation
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the ...
and Pixel XL devices where support was extended due to popular demand.
Having been guaranteed updates only up to October 2018, the first-generation Pixel and Pixel XL devices received version updates to Android 10. The
Pixel 2
The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 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 and Pixel XL. They were officially announc ...
and
Pixel 2 XL were included, after being granted an extended warranty period which guaranteed Android version updates for them for at least 3 years from when they were first available on the Google Store. A total of six beta or release-candidate versions were released before the final release.
The beta program was expanded with the release of Beta 3 on May 7, 2019, being made available on 14 partner devices from 11 OEMs; twice as many devices compared to Android Pie's beta.
Beta access was removed from the
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei Mate 20 is a line of Android phablets produced by Huawei, which collectively succeed the Mate 10 as part of the Huawei Mate series. The flagship models, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, were unveiled on 20 July 2018 at a press conference in ...
on May 21, 2019, due to U.S. government sanctions, but was later restored on May 31.
Google released Beta 4 on June 5, 2019, with the finalized Android Q APIs and SDK (API Level 29). Dynamic System Updates (DSU) were also included in Beta 4. The Dynamic System Update allows Android Q devices to temporarily install a Generic System Image (GSI) to try a newer version of Android on top of their current Android version. Once users decide to end testing the chosen GSI image, they can simply reboot their device and boot back into their normal device's Android version.
Google released Beta 5 on July 10, 2019, with the final API 29 SDK as well as the latest optimizations and bug fixes. Google released Beta 6, the final release candidate for testing, on August 7, 2019.
On August 22, 2019, it was announced that Android Q would be branded solely as "Android 10" with no codename, effectively ending the practice of alphabetically codenaming major releases based on names of confectionary products (including brand names), arguing that this was not inclusive to international users, due either to the aforementioned products not being internationally known, or being difficult to pronounce by speakers of certain languages. Additionally, Android VP of engineering Dave Burke stated that most desserts with a name beginning with the letter Q were exotic, and that he personally would have chosen
queen cake. He also noted that there were references to "qt"—an abbreviation of ''quince tart''—within internal files and build systems relating to the release.
The
statue for the release is likewise the numeral 10, with the Android robot logo (which, as part of an accompanying rebranding, has also been changed to only consist of a head) resting inside the numeral "0".
Features
Navigation
Android 10 introduces a revamped full-screen gesture navigation system and new app open and close animations, with gestures such as swiping from either side edge of the display to go back, swiping up to go to the home screen, swiping up and holding to access Overview, swiping diagonally from a bottom corner of the screen to activate the
Google Assistant
Google Assistant is a virtual assistant software application developed by Google that is primarily available on mobile and home automation devices. Based on artificial intelligence, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations, unlike t ...
, and swiping along the gesture bar at the bottom of the screen to switch apps. The use of an edge swiping gesture as a "Back" command was noted as potentially causing conflicts with apps that utilize
sidebar menus and other functions accessible by swiping. An API can be used by apps to opt out of handling a back gesture within specific areas of the screen, a sensitivity control was added for adjusting the size of the target area to activate the gesture, and Google later stated that the drawer widget would support being "peeked" by long-pressing near the edge of the screen, and then swiped open. The traditional three-key navigation system used since
Android "Honeycomb" remains supported as an option, along with the two-button "pill" style navigation introduced in
Android 9.0 Pie.
Per Google certification requirements, OEMs are required to support Android 10's default gestures and three-key navigation. OEMs are free to add their own gestures alongside them. However, they must not be enabled by default, they must be listed in a separate area one level deeper than other navigation settings, and they cannot be promoted using notifications. The two-key gesture navigation system used on
Android Pie
Android Pie ( codenamed Android P during development), also known as Android 9 (API 28) is the ninth major release and the 16th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 7, 2018, and ...
is deprecated, and may not be included on devices that ship with Android 10. However, it can still be included as an option for continuity purposes on devices upgraded from Pie.
User experience
Android 10 includes a system-level
dark mode
A light-on-dark color scheme —also called black mode, dark mode, dark theme, night mode, or lights-out (mode)— is a color scheme that uses light-colored text, icons, and graphical user interface elements on a dark background. It is often ...
. Third-party apps can automatically engage a dark mode when it is active.
Apps can also present "settings panels" for specific settings (such as, for example, internet connection and Wi-Fi settings if an app requires internet) via overlay panels, so that the user does not have to be taken outside of the app in order to configure them.
Privacy and security
Several major security and privacy changes are present in Android 10: apps can be restricted by users to only having access to location data when they are actively being used in the foreground. There are also new restrictions on the launching of activities by background apps. For security (due to its use by
clickjacking
Clickjacking (classified as a user interface redress attack or UI redressing) is a malicious technique of tricking a user into clicking on something different from what the user perceives, thus potentially revealing confidential information or ...
malware) and performance reasons, Android 10 Go Edition forbids use of overlays, except for apps that received the permission before a device was upgraded to Android 10.
Encryption
In February 2019, Google unveiled
Adiantum
''Adiantum'' (), the maidenhair fern, is a genus of about 250 species of ferns in the subfamily Vittarioideae of the family Pteridaceae, though some researchers place it in its own family, Adiantaceae. The genus name comes from Greek, meaning "un ...
, an encryption cipher designed primarily for use on devices that do not have hardware-accelerated support for the
Advanced Encryption Standard
The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael (), is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001.
AES is a varian ...
(AES), such as low-end devices. Google stated that this cipher was five times faster than AES-256-XTS on an
ARM Cortex-A7
The ARM Cortex-A7 MPCore is a 32-bit microprocessor core licensed by ARM Holdings implementing the ARMv7-A architecture announced in 2011.
Overview
It has two target applications; firstly as a smaller, simpler, and more power-efficient success ...
CPU. Therefore, device encryption is now mandatory on all Android 10 devices, regardless of specifications, using Adiantum if their CPU is not capable of hardware-accelerated AES. In addition, implementation of "file-based encryption" (first introduced in
Android Nougat
Android Nougat ( codenamed Android N during development) is the seventh major version and 14th original version of the Android operating system. First released as an alpha test version on March 9, 2016, it was officially released on August 22, ...
) is also mandatory for all devices.
On devices shipping with Android 10, security patches for selected system components (such as
ANGLE
In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the '' vertex'' of the angle.
Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles a ...
, Conscrypt, media frameworks, networking components, and others) may be serviced via
Google Play Store
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating syst ...
, without requiring a complete system update ("Project Mainline"). In order to license
Google mobile services
Google Mobile Services (GMS) is a collection of proprietary applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) services from Google that are typically pre-installed on Android devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. GMS ...
, manufacturers must support these updates for specific modules, while the remainder are marked as "recommended" but optional. Selected modules within this system use the new APEX package format, a variation of
APK files designed for housing and servicing low-level system components.
Scoped storage
A major change to storage access permissions known as "Scoped storage" is supported on Android 10, and will become mandatory for all apps beginning with Android 11. Apps are only allowed to access files in external storage that they had created themselves (preferably contained within an app-specific directory), and audio, image, and video files contained within the Music, Pictures, or Videos directories. Any other file may only be accessed via user intervention through the
backwards-incompatible Google Storage Access Frameworks.
Apps must have a new "read privileged phone state" permission in order to read non-resettable device identifiers, such as
IMEI number.
Transport Layer Security
TLS 1.3
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, but its use in securi ...
support is also enabled by default.
Platform
Platform optimizations have been made for
foldable smartphone
A foldable smartphone (also known as a foldable phone or simply foldable) is a smartphone with a folding form factor. Some variants of the concept use multiple touchscreen panels on a hinge, while other designs utilise a flexible display. Conc ...
s, including app continuity when changing modes, changes to multi-window mode to allow all apps to run simultaneously (rather than only the actively-used app running, and all others being considered "paused"), and additional support for multiple displays.
"Direct Share" has been succeeded by "sharing shortcuts". As before, it allows apps to return lists of direct targets for sharing (such as a combination of an app and a specific contact) for use within share menus. Unlike Direct Share, apps publish their targets in advance and do not have to be polled at runtime, improving performance.
Native support has been added for
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
controllers, the
AV1
AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) is an open, royalty-free video coding format initially designed for video transmissions over the Internet. It was developed as a successor to VP9 by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a consortium founded in 2015 th ...
video codec, the
Opus
''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning "work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.).
Opus or OPUS may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicatio ...
audio codec, and
HDR10+
HDR10+ is a high dynamic range (HDR) video technology that adds dynamic metadata to HDR10 source files. The dynamic metadata are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the HDR video to the consumer display's capabilities in a way based on the ...
.
There is also a new standard API for retrieving depth information from camera photos, which can be used for more advanced effects.
Native support for
aptX Adaptive
aptX (''apt'' stands for ''audio processing technology'') is a family of proprietary audio codec compression algorithms owned by Qualcomm, with a heavy emphasis on wireless audio applications.
History
The original aptX algorithm was developed ...
,
LHDC,
LLAC,
CELT and AAC LATM codecs was added as well.
Android 10 supports
WPA3 encryption protocol and Enhanced Open, which introduce opportunistic encryption for Wi-Fi.
Android 10 adds support for
Dual-SIM dual-standby (DSDS), but is initially only available on the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL.
Android 10
Go Edition has performance improvements, with Google stating that apps would launch 10% quicker than on Pie.
RISC-V Support
Recently, Android 10 has been ported to the
RISC-V
RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five" where five refers to the number of generations of RISC architecture that were developed at the University of California, Berkeley since 1981) is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on estab ...
architecture by Chinese-owned T-Head Semiconductor. T-Head Semiconductor managed to get Android 10 running on a triple-core, 64-bit, RISC-V CPU of their own design.
See also
*
Android version history
The version history of the Android mobile operating system began with the public release of the Android beta on November 5, 2007. The first commercial version, Android 1.0, was released on September 23, 2008. Android is developed by Google in w ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Portal bar, Internet
Android (operating system)
2019 software