Android 14 preview for developers arrives

Google has released a first developer preview of its Android 14 mobile operating system, which emphasizes tablets and foldable devices, as well as improvements for data transfers and battery life.

The preview was presented on February 8. Version 14 builds on the work done on Android 12L and 13 to support tablets and foldable form factors. The goal with each release is to make it easier to optimize an app across all surfaces of Android, advocates said. To help build apps that adapt to different screen sizes, Android developers created a slider layout, window size classes, activity embedding, and constrained box, all compatible with the Android UI Development Kit. Jetpack Compose. With version 14, the guide for large screens has been updated. Additionally, a cross-device SDK is previewed for building apps that work across different devices and form factors.

Instructions for accessing the Android 14 Developer Preview can be found at developer.android.com. Other features in Android 14 include:

• The Android APIs for foreground services and JobScheduler will add new functionality for user-initiated data transfers and an updated requirement to declare foreground service types.
• Internal drive system optimizations improve battery life and responsiveness.
• The font can be scaled to 200%, up from the previous font size scaling on 130% pixel devices. To mitigate issues with overly large text, non-linear font scaling is automatically applied.
• To prevent malicious apps from intercepting intents, apps targeting Android 14 cannot send intents internally that don’t specify a package.
• Dynamic code loading has been made more secure, with dynamically loaded files marketed as read-only.
• Access to 300 OpenJDK 17 classes is provided.

An overview of the APIs and features has been posted on developer.android.com. Feedback on the developer preview is appreciated. Platform stability for Android 14 is expected in June, with the final release scheduled for August.