What you need to know
- The third Android 13 beta is rolling out today.
- With the third beta, the operating system hits the platform stability milestone with a focus on polish and performance.
- Google plans to release another beta next month before the final version is released.
Google has released the third Android 13 beta today, and while it doesn't introduce any major new features, it marks a significant milestone in the operating system's development before the final version.
The latest beta pushes Android 13 to the platform stability milestone, meaning all app-facing behaviors and APIs are complete. This should give developers enough confidence to start their final Android 13 compatibility tests without fear of things changing.
"Today we’re releasing the third Beta of Android 13, taking us into the final phase of our cycle where we’re focusing on polish and performance," Dave Burke, vice president of engineering at Google, wrote in a blog post. "With Android 13, we’ve built on our core themes of privacy and security, developer productivity, and tablet and large screen support."
Google is urging app and game developers to test their apps for compatibility with all the major Android 13 changes, such as the new notification permission, clipboard preview, granular media permissions, and more. Once developers have finished testing their apps, they will be able to publish compatibility updates ahead of the final release.
If you want to try out the latest Android 13 beta, many of the best Android phones, including Google's Pixel devices and select models compatible with the Android Beta Program, have access to it.
Android 13 also includes the tablet optimizations introduced in Android 12L, so Google is encouraging developers to test their apps on an Android emulator in Android Studio to optimize them for tablets and large screens. They can do the same with the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro and the Xiaomi Tab 5.
Google plans to release one more Android 13 beta next month before the final version arrives in the next few months. Unlike Android 12, the next version of Android only has four beta releases.
