By Dave Burke, VP of Engineering
Platform stability milestone | Android 12 Beta 4 has been released today, we bring you the fourth Beta version of the Android 12, and entered the final phase of release cycles. Android 12 brings a number of changes, including a new user friendly UI, performance improvements, privacy and security enhancements, and more. We are now shifting our focus to further polishing the system and improving performance and stability. The feedback you’ve been sharing has helped us improve the platform and reach today’s milestone. Thank you again!
For developers, Beta 4 brings us to the platform stability milestone, which means that the Android 12 API and all application-oriented behaviors are finalized. For applications, the focus now is on resolving compatibility and improving quality. Now is the time to start preparing compatibility updates for your application right away and get ready for the official release later this year.
You can start playing Android 12 Beta 4 today with an OTA update on your Pixel device, and if you’ve already joined the Beta, you’ll get the update automatically. You can also experience Android 12 Beta 4 on selected devices from our device manufacturer partners such as Asus, OnePlus, OPPO, RealMe, Sharp, and ZTE, as detailed here.
For more information about Android 12 and how to get started, visit the Android 12 Developer website.
Platform Stability Milestones
Android 12 Beta 4 has fully reached the platform stability milestone, which means that all the application-oriented interfaces and behaviors in Android 12 have been finalized. This includes not only the official SDK and NDK apis, but also system behavior and non-SDK interface restrictions that may affect the application. So starting with Beta 4, you can release compatibility updates to your application with the confidence that there will be no further platform changes. See the release schedule.
We ask all app and game developers to begin final compatibility testing now and get ready to release compatibility updates for their apps and games as soon as possible before the official release of Android 12.
For all the SDK and development libraries, tools, and the game engine developers, immediately start testing and release as soon as possible compatibility update is more important: before get updates from you, your work in the downstream application and game developers could be set back, so please be sure to downstream of the released, compatible with the updated inform you that your developers!
Application compatibility
For Android, app compatibility means that your app will work as expected on the new version of the platform. All you need to do is install the official version of the application on the device or emulator to perform a compatibility test: if everything works, the application is compatible.
It is important to test your application for compatibility. With each system release, we make overall improvements to the platform to enhance privacy and security, and optimize the user experience across the operating system. These can affect your application, so be sure to review the behavior change list and test it, and then release compatibility updates to users. Compatibility testing is the basic but very core part of ensuring the quality of your application, which can ensure that your users have a good application experience.
When users update their devices to Android 12, they will want to explore the latest version of Android and play with their favorite apps on the new platform. An application that doesn’t work properly can be a serious problem and may even cause users to uninstall your application.
So while Android 12 has plenty of new apis and features worth exploring, test your current app first and release compatibility updates.
Get your application ready
To test the compatibility of your app on Android 12, simply install the official version of your app on a device running Android 12 Beta 4 via Google Play or another channel. Test all the processes of your application to find problems that are exposed in functionality or UI. Use the behavioral change list (for all applications) to identify potential changes that may affect your application to determine your test focus;
Here are some changes to be aware of:
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Privacy Information Center – This is a new screen to Settings that allows users to see which applications are accessing which types of data and when. Users can adjust their permissions if needed and learn from the application exactly why they are accessing the data. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Microphone and Camera indicator – Android 12 will display an indicator icon in the status bar when an app is using the camera or microphone. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Microphone and Camera global switch – This function is added to Quick Settings. Users can immediately disable the microphone and camera access for all applications. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Clipboard Access Notification – The user is notified when an application reads data from the clipboard. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Over-roll stretch effect – when over-roll, the new “stretch” effect replaces the previous glow effect system-wide. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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App Splash screen – Android 12 launches your app with a new splash animation. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Keygen Changes – We removed some of the deprecated BouncyCastle encryption algorithms and used Conscrypt implementations instead. If your application uses a 512-bit AES key, you need to change it to the standard length supported by Conscrypt. Please visit the official documentation for details.
Don’t forget to test your application’s development libraries and SDKS for compatibility. If you find problems with the SDK, try updating to the latest version of the SDK, or ask its developer for help.
Once you have released a compatible version of your current application, you can start updating the targetSdkVersion of your application. Review the behavior change list (for Android 12-oriented applications) and use the compatibility framework tools to quickly detect problems.
Here are some changes that need to be tested (for applications with targetSdkVersion 31 or higher):
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Foreground service start Restriction – Applications can no longer start foreground services from the background. For high-priority background tasks, use expedited Jobs in WorkManager instead. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Rough location – When an application requests permission for an exact location, the user can now choose to grant an exact or rough location. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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New precise alarm permission – Applications that want to use precise alarm clocks must apply for a new normal permission: SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Modern SameSite Cookie behavior in WebView – If your application uses WebView, test for new SameSite Cookie behavior. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Safer Export of components — Your application must explicitly declare android: Exported properties for any application component that uses an Intent filter. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Custom notifications – The system uses a standard notification template for fully custom notifications and provides fields for application name, application icon, and content expansion/collapse. Please visit the official documentation for details.
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Notification Trampoline Restriction – Notifications can no longer start your application through the trampoline, the intermediate broadcast receiver or service used to start the target Activity. Please visit the official documentation for details.
During testing, also be aware of the application’s use of restricted non-SDK interfaces, and migrate from these interfaces to alternatives to the public SDK. Please read the official documentation for details on the restricted APIS.
Start playing Android 12 right now
Whether you want to experience the features of Android 12, test your app, or submit feedback, you can start with this Beta. Just sign up for the test with a supported Pixel device and get updates over the air (OTA). To get started, install and set up the Android 12 SDK.
You can also experience Android 12 Beta 4 on devices from top device manufacturer partners participating in the Android 12 Developer Preview program, such as Asus, OnePlus, OPPO, RealMe, Sharp, and ZTE. Please visit the developer. The android. Google. Cn/about/versi… See the full list of partners. For more extensive testing on more devices, you can also install and experience Android 12 Beta 4 through the Android GSI image. If you don’t have a suitable device, you can also test on an Android emulator.
Beta 4 is also available for Android TV, allowing you to see the latest features, test your own apps, and try out the new Google TV experience. Visit the Android TV developer website to learn more and get started with the ADT-3 Developer Kit.
We will also be releasing a Beta as a release candidate in the coming weeks for final testing.
Please visit the Android 12 developer website for more details about the Beta.
Your feedback and questions about your products are very important to us. You are welcome to submit feedback to us. Chances are your questions will appear in the next FAQ and be answered. Thank you for your support!