apk.fm / News / Android 12 Beta 5 update, official release is next!

Android 12 Beta 5 update, official release is next!

147
Android 12 Beta 5 update, official release is next!

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering

Android 12 logo

We’re just a few weeks away from the official release of Android 12! As we put
the finishing touches on the new version of Android, today we’re bringing you
a final Beta update to help you with testing and development. For developers,
now is the time to make sure your apps are ready!

You can get Beta 5 today on your Pixel device, including on the Pixel 5a with
5G, by enrolling here for
over-the-air updates. If you’re already enrolled, you’ll automatically get the
update. You can also try Android 12 Beta 5 on select devices from
several of our partners like Sharp.
Visit the
Android 12 developer site
for details.

Watch for more information on the official Android 12 release coming soon!

What’s in Beta 5?

Today’s update includes a release candidate build of Android 12 for Pixel and
other devices and the Android Emulator. We
reached Platform Stability at Beta 4, so all app-facing surfaces are final, including SDK and NDK APIs,
app-facing system behaviors, and restrictions on non-SDK interfaces. With
these and the latest fixes and optimizations, Beta 5 gives you everything you
need to complete your testing.

timeline

Get your apps ready!

With the official Android 12 release coming next, we’re asking all app and
game developers to
complete your final compatibility testing and
publish your compatibility updates ahead of the final
release. For SDK, library, tools, and game engine developers, it’s important
to release your compatible updates as soon as possible — your downstream app
and game developers may be blocked until they receive your updates.

To test your app for compatibility, just install it on a device running
Android 12 Beta 5 and work through the app flows looking for any functional or
UI issues. Review the Android 12
behavior changes for all apps
to focus on areas where your app could be affected. Here are some of the top
changes to test:

  • Privacy dashboard — A new dashboard in Settings lets
    users see which apps are accessing which type of data and when. Users can
    adjust permissions if needed, and they can request details from your app on
    the reason for access.
    More here.
  • Microphone & camera indicators — Android 12 shows
    an indicator in the status bar when an app is using the camera or
    microphone.
    More here.
  • Microphone & camera toggles — New toggles in
    Quick Settings let users instantly disable microphone and camera access for
    all apps.
    More here.
  • Clipboard read notification — A toast alerts users
    when an app reads data from the clipboard unexpectedly.
    More here.
  • Stretch overscroll — A new “stretch” overscroll
    effect replaces the previous “glow” overscroll effect systemwide.
    More here.
  • App splash screens — Android 12 launches apps with a
    new splash screen animation.
    More here.
  • Keygen changes — Several deprecated BouncyCastle
    cryptographic algorithms are removed in favor of Conscrypt versions. If your
    app uses a 512-bit key with AES, you’ll need to use one of the standard
    sizes supported by Conscrypt.More here.

Remember to test the libraries and SDKs in your app for
compatibility. If you find any SDK issues, try updating to the latest version
of the SDK or reaching out to the developer for help.

Once you’ve published the compatible version of your current app, you can
start the
process
to
update your app’s targetSdkVersion. Review the
behavior changes for Android 12 apps
and use the
compatibility framework
to help detect issues quickly.

Explore the new features and APIs

Android 12 has a ton of new features to help you build great experiences for
users. Check out our
Android 12 Beta 2 post
for a recap and links to Android 12 talks at Google I/O. For complete details
on all of the new features and APIs, visit the
Android 12 developer site.

Also make sure to try
Android Studio Arctic Fox
with your Android 12 development and testing. We’ve added lint checks to help
you catch where your code might be affected by Android 12 changes, such as for
custom declarations of splash screens, coarse location permission for fine
location usage, media formats, and high sensor sampling rate permission. You
can give these a try by
downloading and
configuring
the latest version of Android Studio.

Get started with Android 12!

Today’s Beta 5 release has everything you need to try the Android 12 features,
test your apps, and give us
feedback. Just
enroll any supported Pixel device
to get the update over-the-air. To get started developing,
set up the Android 12 SDK.

You can also get Beta 5 on devices from
several of our partners
like Sharp. For even broader testing, you can try Beta 5 on
Android GSI images, and if you don’t have a device, you can test on the
Android Emulator. This update is also
available for Android TV, so you can check out the latest TV features and test your apps on the
all-new Google TV experience.

What’s next?

Stay tuned for the official Android 12 launch coming in the weeks ahead! Until
then, feel free to
continue sharing your feedback
through our hotlists for platform issues,
app compatibility issues, and
third-party SDK issues.

A huge thank you to our developer community for helping shape the Android 12
release! You’ve given us
thousands of bug reports
and shared insights that have helped us adjust APIs, improve features, fix
significant bugs, and in general make the platform better for users and
developers.

We’re looking forward to seeing your apps on Android 12!



Source link

Take a comment