Want to check if your Android device passes the Play Integrity API check? You can use Google Play's new built-in Play Integrity checker available in version 34.6.11 or later.

Here's how:

1) Open Google Play and go to Settings

2) Expand "About" and tap on "Play Store version" until you see "You are now a developer!"

3) Expand "General" and tap on "Developer options"

4) Tap on "check integrity"

H/T @nailsad_eleos

Some users are reporting that Google Play is telling them that "recent data from similar devices show that this app may stop working on your device."

This seems like a neat feature of Google Play. If an app is having a bunch of crashes and ANRs on particular device models, it would be useful to let other users of that same device model know ahead of time to perhaps wait for an update.

I haven't seen this before, so I think it could be relatively new. Correct me if this has been around for a long time and I just missed it. All the mentions of it I've found are recent, with the earliest being in October.

Screenshot credits: @Felixlix45

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UPDATE: It looks like this was announced in October 2022.

If you're an app developer and want to test Android 14's improved predictive back gesture animation (w/ support for cross-task & in-app transition previews) as shown in the below video, here's how 👇

You'll need a device running Android 14 DP1, of course. You'll also need root access, though, so if you don't/can't root your Pixel, then the Android Emulator will suffice as it allows for adb root.

All you have to do is run these commands in an elevated shell:

1) Enable new predictive back animations:

setprop persist.wm.debug.predictive_back_anim 1

2) Restart system_server:

stop && start

And voila! You should see the new animations. That's provided you also have "predictive back animations" enabled in Developer Options, as otherwise even the back-to-home animation is disabled. If your app targets API 33, you'll also need to opt in.

In future Android 14 previews, you probably won't have to enable this new predictive back animation using root, but I don't know if that'll happen in DP2, Beta 1, or later.

For the full details on the predictive back gesture improvements coming to Android 14, check out this article I wrote for XDA-Developers a few weeks back.

Google Keep's new single note widget is rolling out starting today on Android devices. This widget lets you pin a note or list to your home screen and toggle checkboxes directly without opening the app (!)

Google announced this new widget a few days back at MWC, but according to the Google Workspace blog, the rollout begins today and will take up to 15 days to complete.

It's a bit earlier than usual, but it seems the internal dessert code-name for Android 15 V has been revealed: "Vanilla Ice Cream".

vic-dev is real, or so I've heard, but the only public reference to it is these Tradefed commits.

H/T teamb58

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EDIT:

If you're thinking this is *really really* early, it's actually not. There's always going to be feature ideas/concepts that Google wants to implement but there's not enough time to add it to the current release, so they either already plan ahead for the next one or punt it.

For example, the new "Background Install Control" system service added in Android 14 was designed to power some unannounced features in Android 15 as well.

So what I really meant by "it's a bit earlier than usual" is how early we find out about the code-name. We learned about Android 14 U's internal dessert code-name (Upside Down Cake) in late April 2022.

...not that the internal dessert code-name actually matters, of course.

The March 2023 Android Security Bulletin has just gone live, detailing the vulnerabilities addressed by the 2023-03-01 and 2023-03-05 security patch levels.

As I previously reported, security backports have officially ended for Android 10.

As of Android 13 QPR1, you can no longer start the screen saver programmatically by launching SystemUI's "Somnambulator" activity.

This means "Daydream Launcher" on Google Play will no longer work.

If you relied on this for automation, you'll have to find another solution.

For example, you can use cmd dreams start-dreaming and cmd dreams stop-dreaming on Android 13 QPR1 and later to start and stop the screen saver respectively. However, this requires superuser privileges. I think you should be able to start the screen saver with Shizuku, though, since the shell package holds the WRITE_DREAM_STATE permission.

Working on turning an unused Android tablet of mine into a dedicated smart home hub, and I needed a way to programmatically start the screen saver. This tablet runs Android 11, so this change doesn't affect my project, but I thought some of you might want to know.

Google I/O 2023 starts May 10th!

Source

Android 14 DP2 is here! Google just announced it over on the Android Developers blog. Follow me on Twitter to see my full breakdown of what’s new, but first, read my summary here of what Google announced.

The first Android 13 QPR3 Beta will be released this coming Monday, March 13, according to the /u/androidbetaprogram account on Reddit.

Detailed instructions on how to migrate from the Android 13 QPR2 Beta to the upcoming Android 13 QPR2 stable release (which is "releasing this month") WITHOUT wiping data can be found in this Reddit post.

The rollout of the February 2023 Google Play System Update was completed earlier this week, but I only just got time to generate a changelog. Here are some notable changes:

* ART's new userfaultfd-based garbage collection algorithm is still not ready for public testing, but it might go live in the next train. [1] [2]

* Photo picker has been updated to support the "selected photos access" feature seen in Android 14, but PermissionController in the Feb. 2023 train doesn't support this. It's likely it won't be enabled for Android 13 devices anyway. [1]

* Safety Center has a new flag to control whether it can send notifications alerting you about potential security issues, such as reviewing apps with full device access (Accessibility). (I thought it already did this?) [1] [2]

If you want to see the full January 2023 --> February 2023 GPSU changelog yourself, you can do so here.