Google releases Android 13 Beta 2 for smartphones and tablets

12 May 2022

At the Google I/O 2022 conference, the second beta version of Android 13 was announced. Google introduced even more new features in the new design system Material You, improved security settings and multilanguages, and also finalized the interface for large screens. Let’s digg into all the details of Android 13.

Security of your personal data with Android 13

The system has changed the rules for working with access to all files. There are now two separate categories «Photos & Videos» and «Music & Audio» so that you can specify different levels of access to these data, rather than giving applications full access to all files on the system.

Clipboard data is also getting more secure in Android 13. The system will warn the user when apps try to access the clipboard. And that’s not all, now the clipboard will be automatically cleared regularly to avoid data leaks.

Material You design system in Android 13

Google continues to implement new principles from the Material You design system to improve the user experience and appearance of apps on your smartphone and tablet.

One of the important tasks is to unify the design of different applications so that the entire interface looks unified and well-developed. This, of course, adds work for Android app developers and designers.

The new option «Themed icons» will unify the appearance of the system for all applications. The design of Android 13 will match the colors of the interface with the desktop wallpaper. For example, here’s how the Calculator app can adapt the color scheme to different desktop wallpapers.

Android 13 + Material You Design + Calculator

And here’s another example — the music player widget can also adapt its appearance to the music that you are currently listening to.

Android 13 + Material You Design + Music Player

Language settings in Android 13

Added the ability to change the interface language for each application in the settings. This will appeal to users who want to use the application in another language instead of the system one. For example, if you use a smartphone or tablet in English, and therefore all applications also work in English by default, but it is more convenient for you to switch banking applications to your local language, such as Spanish or German.

Google Pay turns into a new Wallet app on Android 13

Now all your bank card data, official documents, driver’s licenses, electronic keys will be available in the new Wallet app. Use them as usual with NFC and a terminal.

Android 13 improvements for tablets

Many fixes and improvements have been made for tablet interfaces: multitasking has been improved, the taskbar has been updated, with which you can select multi-screen mode, drawing with styluses has been optimized.

List of smartphones and tablets supporting Android 13 Beta 2

Android 13 Beta 2 smartphones and tablets

You can download Android 13 Beta 2 and install it on your smartphone or tablet from this page for Google developers.

Google releases Android 13 Beta 2 for smartphones and tablets

Security of your personal data with Android 13

Material You design system in Android 13

Language settings in Android 13

Google Pay turns into a new Wallet app on Android 13

Android 13 improvements for tablets

List of smartphones and tablets supporting Android 13 Beta 2

Smartphones for testing Android 13 Beta 2

Tablets for testing Android 13 Beta 2

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