You can now root your Pixel Watch following a guide by developer breaddisease, provided you get a special debug adapter that Google distributes "by invitation only."
Installing Magisk on the Watch follows the same process as on phones.
Installing Magisk on the Watch follows the same process as on phones.
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Google has updated the Android version distribution statistics shown in Android Studio to reflect the latest data as of May 30, 2023. Here's how the % of (GMS Android) devices has changed since January 2023 when the stats were last publicly updated.
- Android 13: 5.2% - 15%
- Android 12: 18.9% -> 16.3%
- Android 11: 24.4% -> 23.1%
- Android 10: 19.5% -> 17.8%
- Android 9: 13.2% -> 11.9%
- Android 8.1: 6.9% -> 6.1%
- Android 8: 2.6% -> 2.2%
- Android 7.1: 1.8% -> 1.5%
- Android 7: 1.9% -> 1.5%
- Android 6: 2.8% -> 2.3%
- Android 5.1: 1.8% -> 1.5%
- Android 5: 0.3% -> 0.3%
- Android 4.4: 0.7% -> 0.5%
The % of (GMS Android) devices running Android 13 has nearly tripled since January 2023. Android 13 was allegedly on 12.1% of devices according to data sourced from mid-April, though that data never appeared directly in Android Studio AFAIK.
—-
While we're on the subject of Android version distribution statistics, Reddit users noticed a pecularity with StatCounter's data.
The % of Android 10 users spiked from 16.65% in April to 47.84% in May 2023, but this can likely be attributed to how they collect their data as the rollout of Chrome's user-agent reduction was enabled for 100% of Android devices in May.
If you look at the UA string in Chrome on your Android phone, you'll likely see it reported as something like "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 10; K) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/98.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36." This is done to reduce passive fingerprinting of devices.
- Android 13: 5.2% - 15%
- Android 12: 18.9% -> 16.3%
- Android 11: 24.4% -> 23.1%
- Android 10: 19.5% -> 17.8%
- Android 9: 13.2% -> 11.9%
- Android 8.1: 6.9% -> 6.1%
- Android 8: 2.6% -> 2.2%
- Android 7.1: 1.8% -> 1.5%
- Android 7: 1.9% -> 1.5%
- Android 6: 2.8% -> 2.3%
- Android 5.1: 1.8% -> 1.5%
- Android 5: 0.3% -> 0.3%
- Android 4.4: 0.7% -> 0.5%
The % of (GMS Android) devices running Android 13 has nearly tripled since January 2023. Android 13 was allegedly on 12.1% of devices according to data sourced from mid-April, though that data never appeared directly in Android Studio AFAIK.
—-
While we're on the subject of Android version distribution statistics, Reddit users noticed a pecularity with StatCounter's data.
The % of Android 10 users spiked from 16.65% in April to 47.84% in May 2023, but this can likely be attributed to how they collect their data as the rollout of Chrome's user-agent reduction was enabled for 100% of Android devices in May.
If you look at the UA string in Chrome on your Android phone, you'll likely see it reported as something like "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 10; K) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/98.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36." This is done to reduce passive fingerprinting of devices.
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In order to declare support for Media Performance Class 14 in Android 14, devices will have to support AV1 encoding at up to 480p30 @ 1Mbps. This is not a high bar to meet, though: Using a SW encoder, a Pixel 5 can achieve 56fps and a Pixel 6 65fps, according to a Googler.
The Android 14 Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) hasn't been published let alone finalized yet, but a recent AOSP code change suggests that requirement ID [2.2.7.1/5.1/H-1-19] will talk about Media PC's AV1 encoder requirement.
Android 14 will be including the "c2.android.av1.encoder" AV1 SW encoder, which isn't in AOSP yet. This is evidenced by the attached code snippet which comes from the media_codecs file in the SWCodec APEX module. I don't see the library for this AV1 encoder yet in Beta 2, though it will likely be the AOM reference AV1 encoder.
According to leaker Kamila Wojciechowska, Google's Tensor G3 will support hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding at up to 4K30. Qualcomm just implemented a HW AV1 decoder (at up to 8K60) in their Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. No word yet on whether they or MediaTek will implement a HW AV1 encoder as well.
The Android 14 Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) hasn't been published let alone finalized yet, but a recent AOSP code change suggests that requirement ID [2.2.7.1/5.1/H-1-19] will talk about Media PC's AV1 encoder requirement.
Android 14 will be including the "c2.android.av1.encoder" AV1 SW encoder, which isn't in AOSP yet. This is evidenced by the attached code snippet which comes from the media_codecs file in the SWCodec APEX module. I don't see the library for this AV1 encoder yet in Beta 2, though it will likely be the AOM reference AV1 encoder.
According to leaker Kamila Wojciechowska, Google's Tensor G3 will support hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding at up to 4K30. Qualcomm just implemented a HW AV1 decoder (at up to 8K60) in their Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. No word yet on whether they or MediaTek will implement a HW AV1 encoder as well.
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Google Clock 7.5 prepares to show a "local weather on clock" option when you have the
As 9to5Google reports and I can confirm with the screenshot above/my own analysis, Google Clock 7.5 will support showing weather info on the Clock screen. This info is provided by the
But is this package actually the new Weather experience that Google showed off recently? Weather is currently part of the Google App and can only be accessed by first searching "Weather" & then adding a homescreen shortcut (or by launching the activity directly if you know how).
Instead of a standalone app you interact with, though, I think this new app could just be a location-based weather provider for not just the Clock app but potentially other Google apps down the road. And the new experience would remain part of the Google App.
Adding location-based weather directly into Clock or other apps would require requesting location permissions. Having an external provider would avoid that. There's a lot of skepticism & concern lately around apps and location access.
Google's done this kind of thing before. Cough & snore detection, for example, is implemented by Android System Intelligence rather than the Clock or Digital Wellbeing apps.
Regardless, Google should still definitely release a "Weather" app on the Play Store, even if it's just a shortcut to the existing experience in the Google App (like they did with the Lens and Podcasts). It would be a lot more convenient and discoverable for users.
com.google.android.apps.weather package installed. This was first mentioned by 9to5Google, who believes this package will be a new, standalone Weather app. I have a different theory, though.As 9to5Google reports and I can confirm with the screenshot above/my own analysis, Google Clock 7.5 will support showing weather info on the Clock screen. This info is provided by the
com.google.android.apps.weather package, which isn't available yet.But is this package actually the new Weather experience that Google showed off recently? Weather is currently part of the Google App and can only be accessed by first searching "Weather" & then adding a homescreen shortcut (or by launching the activity directly if you know how).
Instead of a standalone app you interact with, though, I think this new app could just be a location-based weather provider for not just the Clock app but potentially other Google apps down the road. And the new experience would remain part of the Google App.
Adding location-based weather directly into Clock or other apps would require requesting location permissions. Having an external provider would avoid that. There's a lot of skepticism & concern lately around apps and location access.
Google's done this kind of thing before. Cough & snore detection, for example, is implemented by Android System Intelligence rather than the Clock or Digital Wellbeing apps.
Regardless, Google should still definitely release a "Weather" app on the Play Store, even if it's just a shortcut to the existing experience in the Google App (like they did with the Lens and Podcasts). It would be a lot more convenient and discoverable for users.
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Android's Private Compute Services app will soon show a log of all its own network activity through a new preference in Private Compute Core settings (AKA "Android System Intelligence" under Settings > Security & privacy > More security & privacy on Pixel). This isn't available yet.
What network activity can you expect to see in the log? ML model downloads for:
- App Suggestions
- Cinematic wallpaper
- Live Caption
- Live Translate
- Notification Auto Expiration
- People & Conversations Service
- Quick Tap
- Speech recognition
- Suspicious Message Alerts
- Smart Copy/Paste
- Smart Text Selection
- Text classification
- Universal search
as well as Android Key Attestation nonce challenges (new) and any contributions to analytics for numerous services.
Most of the features/services I mentioned aren't new, except for 3: Cinematic wallpaper, Notification Auto Expiration, and Android Key Attestation in PCC.
1) Under the hood, the new Cinematic Wallpaper feature uses an "on-device convolutional neural network to estimate depth, and then a generative adversarial network for in-painting as the background moves," according to Dave Burke at I/O.
2) I have never heard of a Notification Auto Expiration feature before, but it sounds like a feature that might automatically dismiss certain notifications based on certain criteria/time? If you know more info, let me know!
3) It looks like Private Compute Core will be handling Android Key Attestation, and anytime a nonce challenge is requested, this will also be logged in the network usage log mentioned before.
What network activity can you expect to see in the log? ML model downloads for:
- App Suggestions
- Cinematic wallpaper
- Live Caption
- Live Translate
- Notification Auto Expiration
- People & Conversations Service
- Quick Tap
- Speech recognition
- Suspicious Message Alerts
- Smart Copy/Paste
- Smart Text Selection
- Text classification
- Universal search
as well as Android Key Attestation nonce challenges (new) and any contributions to analytics for numerous services.
Most of the features/services I mentioned aren't new, except for 3: Cinematic wallpaper, Notification Auto Expiration, and Android Key Attestation in PCC.
1) Under the hood, the new Cinematic Wallpaper feature uses an "on-device convolutional neural network to estimate depth, and then a generative adversarial network for in-painting as the background moves," according to Dave Burke at I/O.
2) I have never heard of a Notification Auto Expiration feature before, but it sounds like a feature that might automatically dismiss certain notifications based on certain criteria/time? If you know more info, let me know!
3) It looks like Private Compute Core will be handling Android Key Attestation, and anytime a nonce challenge is requested, this will also be logged in the network usage log mentioned before.
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The upcoming release of v2.2.0 of the Nearby SDK for embedded systems will bring support for Google's new Find My Device network, which will let billions of Android devices and accessories find one another when lost!
This SDK enables accessory makers to support Fast Pair and soon FMD Network!
Nearby SDK for embedded systems release notes
v2.2.0-embedded
New features:
* Find My Device Network added
* Added micro-ecc component
(Changelog was live briefly but was reverted, and new documentation isn't up yet.)
The upcoming SDK release also seems to add support for unknown tracker alerts. There are mentions of requesting a ringing volume (default, low, medium, high), pressing a physical button to enter "EIK (Ephemeral Identity Key) recovery mode", etc. When the EIK is cleared for a locator tag, the device is reset to factory defaults.
"If you're still concerned about your safety, you'll be able to view instructions to physically disable the tracker and stop it from updating its location," Google said in its announcement.
If the platform supports "interleaving [Bluetooth] LE advertisements", then it can be configured to send both FP [Fast Pair] and SPOT [Find My Device Network] advertisements at different intervals. Otherwise, it'll alternate them.
Other info I can glean is that there's different thresholds for low battery and critically low battery alerts (20% and 10% respectively) and that Find My Device network advertisements can be turned off for buds when they're in the case so the case can advertise its location.
(The release might actually be version 2.0.0 now that I'm looking at newer commits that reverted all these changes. Still, it's open source so we can see what's coming!)
This SDK enables accessory makers to support Fast Pair and soon FMD Network!
Nearby SDK for embedded systems release notes
v2.2.0-embedded
New features:
* Find My Device Network added
* Added micro-ecc component
(Changelog was live briefly but was reverted, and new documentation isn't up yet.)
The upcoming SDK release also seems to add support for unknown tracker alerts. There are mentions of requesting a ringing volume (default, low, medium, high), pressing a physical button to enter "EIK (Ephemeral Identity Key) recovery mode", etc. When the EIK is cleared for a locator tag, the device is reset to factory defaults.
"If you're still concerned about your safety, you'll be able to view instructions to physically disable the tracker and stop it from updating its location," Google said in its announcement.
If the platform supports "interleaving [Bluetooth] LE advertisements", then it can be configured to send both FP [Fast Pair] and SPOT [Find My Device Network] advertisements at different intervals. Otherwise, it'll alternate them.
Other info I can glean is that there's different thresholds for low battery and critically low battery alerts (20% and 10% respectively) and that Find My Device network advertisements can be turned off for buds when they're in the case so the case can advertise its location.
(The release might actually be version 2.0.0 now that I'm looking at newer commits that reverted all these changes. Still, it's open source so we can see what's coming!)
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Here is what's new in Android 14 Beta 3 - My Twitter thread is live!
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Android 14 Beta 3 is here! With this release, Android 14 has reached Platform Stability. This means that all APIs & app-facing system behaviors are finalized. The SDK version in the build now reports 34, and developers can now publish their apps targeting 34 on Google Play.
Yes, it's actually, really here: Google has just sent out emails to the press with the announcement as well as a link to the blog post. Here's a summary of what they announced via email:
Android 14 Beta 3 brings support for the Pixel 7a.
That's it, what did you expect? :P
JK, you know where to go if you want the best coverage of what's actually new in the latest Android beta 😉
(Google also highlighted several features and changes they previously announced, such as non-linear font scaling up to 200%, grant partial access to photos and videos, data safety information in location permission dialogs, and OpenJDK 17 updates.)
Yes, it's actually, really here: Google has just sent out emails to the press with the announcement as well as a link to the blog post. Here's a summary of what they announced via email:
Android 14 Beta 3 brings support for the Pixel 7a.
That's it, what did you expect? :P
JK, you know where to go if you want the best coverage of what's actually new in the latest Android beta 😉
(Google also highlighted several features and changes they previously announced, such as non-linear font scaling up to 200%, grant partial access to photos and videos, data safety information in location permission dialogs, and OpenJDK 17 updates.)
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Here are the issues that have been fixed in Android 14 Beta 3:
* Fixed issues that prevented Wi-Fi calling from being enabled for some devices and carriers. (Issue #277964472)
* Fixed an issue that caused Direct My Call interactions to fail in some cases where they would normally work. (Issue #278252154)
* Fixed system issues that caused unnecessary power consumption in some cases.
* Fixed system stability issues that caused UI jank in some cases.
* Fixed an issue that caused the system Settings app to crash while setting the wallpaper.
* Fixed an issue with the system UI that could cause a GPU hang, leading to "Application Not Responding" (ANR) errors.
* Fixed a system issue that could sometimes cause a device's GPS services to stop working until the device was rebooted.
* Fixed issues with the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) that could prevent devices from being able to make Wi-Fi calls in some cases.
* Fixed an issue where a blank screen displays after selecting the "Message" option for a recent caller in the Google Phone app.
* Fixed an issue where while 3-button navigation was enabled for a device, putting Google Maps into picture-in-picture mode made the picture-in-picture window disappear.
* Fixed an issue where locking and unlocking a device while playing a video in the Google TV app could cause the device to freeze.
* Fixed an issue with Android Auto where some users could be asked to re-pair Bluetooth.
* Fixed issues with Health Connect, including the following issues and other API and system behaviors:
* An issue where the system back button stopped working while Health Connect integration was in progress.
* An issue where the Route Permissions screen would sometimes freeze.
* An issue where Health Connect sometimes couldn't be accessed in system settings.
* An issue where the data category page of Health Connect was missing some permission types when a filter was applied.
Here are the known issues with Android 14 Beta 3:
* An issue with the Credential Manager platform APIs causes instability in apps that use them. A fix is available in the latest preview version of the Android 14 SDK, which developers can install using Android Studio. Developers who previously installed a preview version of the Android 14 SDK should completely uninstall the previous version and then reinstall the SDK to apply the fix.
* An issue with the system UI sometimes causes the screen to flicker when a video is playing or an app is using in picture-in-picture mode.
* In some cases, video continues playing in the background even after closing an app if the video was playing in picture-in-picture mode when it was closed.
* A video that is playing in picture-in-picture mode stops playing abruptly if the back gesture is used within the PiP settings screens.
* A system issue can sometimes cause the Android System Intelligence service to crash.
* When using a device with a work profile, the Google Play Store app in the work profile hangs or crashes when launched.
* Fixed issues that prevented Wi-Fi calling from being enabled for some devices and carriers. (Issue #277964472)
* Fixed an issue that caused Direct My Call interactions to fail in some cases where they would normally work. (Issue #278252154)
* Fixed system issues that caused unnecessary power consumption in some cases.
* Fixed system stability issues that caused UI jank in some cases.
* Fixed an issue that caused the system Settings app to crash while setting the wallpaper.
* Fixed an issue with the system UI that could cause a GPU hang, leading to "Application Not Responding" (ANR) errors.
* Fixed a system issue that could sometimes cause a device's GPS services to stop working until the device was rebooted.
* Fixed issues with the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) that could prevent devices from being able to make Wi-Fi calls in some cases.
* Fixed an issue where a blank screen displays after selecting the "Message" option for a recent caller in the Google Phone app.
* Fixed an issue where while 3-button navigation was enabled for a device, putting Google Maps into picture-in-picture mode made the picture-in-picture window disappear.
* Fixed an issue where locking and unlocking a device while playing a video in the Google TV app could cause the device to freeze.
* Fixed an issue with Android Auto where some users could be asked to re-pair Bluetooth.
* Fixed issues with Health Connect, including the following issues and other API and system behaviors:
* An issue where the system back button stopped working while Health Connect integration was in progress.
* An issue where the Route Permissions screen would sometimes freeze.
* An issue where Health Connect sometimes couldn't be accessed in system settings.
* An issue where the data category page of Health Connect was missing some permission types when a filter was applied.
Here are the known issues with Android 14 Beta 3:
* An issue with the Credential Manager platform APIs causes instability in apps that use them. A fix is available in the latest preview version of the Android 14 SDK, which developers can install using Android Studio. Developers who previously installed a preview version of the Android 14 SDK should completely uninstall the previous version and then reinstall the SDK to apply the fix.
* An issue with the system UI sometimes causes the screen to flicker when a video is playing or an app is using in picture-in-picture mode.
* In some cases, video continues playing in the background even after closing an app if the video was playing in picture-in-picture mode when it was closed.
* A video that is playing in picture-in-picture mode stops playing abruptly if the back gesture is used within the PiP settings screens.
* A system issue can sometimes cause the Android System Intelligence service to crash.
* When using a device with a work profile, the Google Play Store app in the work profile hangs or crashes when launched.
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Alongside the new Android 14 Beta 3 builds, Google has also quietly released the first builds of Android TV 14 based on Android 14! Only emulator builds are available now. Alongside this, Google seems to be retiring Android TV 13 (!)
The documentation for Android TV 14 isn't available yet and neither are ADT-3 builds. Speaking of the ADT-3, I reached out to Google about the status of its successor, the ADT-4, earlier today and will let you all know if I hear back.
A new code change noscriptd "don't recommend Android TV Tiramisu" was just merged in AOSP with the denoscription "we are retiring T as a version in Android TV. Moving the T image to the non-recommended menu should dissuade developers from creating a T images
if not required."
This code change was spotted by 9to5Google. In an upcoming release of Android Studio Canary with the latest AVD Manager, when you select an Android TV 13 image, you'll see that "Tiramisu is an unsupported Android TV version."
The documentation for Android TV 14 isn't available yet and neither are ADT-3 builds. Speaking of the ADT-3, I reached out to Google about the status of its successor, the ADT-4, earlier today and will let you all know if I hear back.
A new code change noscriptd "don't recommend Android TV Tiramisu" was just merged in AOSP with the denoscription "we are retiring T as a version in Android TV. Moving the T image to the non-recommended menu should dissuade developers from creating a T images
if not required."
This code change was spotted by 9to5Google. In an upcoming release of Android Studio Canary with the latest AVD Manager, when you select an Android TV 13 image, you'll see that "Tiramisu is an unsupported Android TV version."
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Alongside the new Android 14 Beta 3 builds, Google has also quietly released the first builds of Android TV 14 based on Android 14! Only emulator builds are available now. Alongside this, Google seems to be retiring Android TV 13 (!) The documentation for…
I can now corroborate this. A source has informed me that Google informed Android TV partners a few days back that they would no longer certify builds based on Android TV 13.
They didn't really give a reason why they're discontinuing Android TV 13, just that they're increasing their focus on Android TV 14, which could be a big release for the platform.
I have reached out to Google for comment on this news.
MORE DETAILS:
Google's requirement to support 2 OS upgrades* will mostly stay unchanged. That means, for example, a retail device that launched on Android TV 10 will now have to update to Android TV 14 as their its release, instead of ending at Android TV 13.
There are two exceptions:
1) Retail devices that launch with Android TV 11 can update directly to Android TV 14 as their final update.
2) Operator Tier devices that launch on Android TV 10 can stay on Android TV 12 as their final release.
The launch windows for Android TV 11 and Android TV 12 will remain unchanged, but devices can remain on Android TV 11 for longer as Google will be providing security patch backports throughout 2024.
—-
*What is Android TV's 2 OS upgrade requirement? It's not what you think: Instead of requiring makers of retail Android TV/Google TV products to go from N to N+2, they're required to go from N to N+3.
Huh?
The thing is, to get to N+3, they're allowed to skip a release. So they can start at N and go to N+1 then N+3, making that 2 OS upgrades, or they can start at N and go to N+2 then N+3.
In essence, this makes sure that retail TV products get 3 OS version upgrades though TV makers only actually have to do 2 OS updates.
They didn't really give a reason why they're discontinuing Android TV 13, just that they're increasing their focus on Android TV 14, which could be a big release for the platform.
I have reached out to Google for comment on this news.
MORE DETAILS:
Google's requirement to support 2 OS upgrades* will mostly stay unchanged. That means, for example, a retail device that launched on Android TV 10 will now have to update to Android TV 14 as their its release, instead of ending at Android TV 13.
There are two exceptions:
1) Retail devices that launch with Android TV 11 can update directly to Android TV 14 as their final update.
2) Operator Tier devices that launch on Android TV 10 can stay on Android TV 12 as their final release.
The launch windows for Android TV 11 and Android TV 12 will remain unchanged, but devices can remain on Android TV 11 for longer as Google will be providing security patch backports throughout 2024.
—-
*What is Android TV's 2 OS upgrade requirement? It's not what you think: Instead of requiring makers of retail Android TV/Google TV products to go from N to N+2, they're required to go from N to N+3.
Huh?
The thing is, to get to N+3, they're allowed to skip a release. So they can start at N and go to N+1 then N+3, making that 2 OS upgrades, or they can start at N and go to N+2 then N+3.
In essence, this makes sure that retail TV products get 3 OS version upgrades though TV makers only actually have to do 2 OS updates.
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I'm looking through the first Android TV 14 beta right now to find what's new! Here's what I've found so far 🧵
(Click the link to see my thread!)
(Click the link to see my thread!)
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VIEW IN TELEGRAM
According to multiple users (H/T Google News group), Google is rolling out an update to the Emoji Wallpaper app in Android 14 Beta 3.
The update shows up on Google Play as "Emoji Workshop Wallpaper" and enables you to use the emoji wallpaper feature in Wallpaper & styles.
The listing doesn't appear if you open Google Play on the web, but it does appear if you open it on a Pixel phone as it filters for devices that declare com.google.android.feature.PIXEL_EXPERIENCE.
There are two main differences between the prebuilt Emoji Wallpaper app in the firmware and the updated Emoji Workshop Wallpaper app.
1) "Emoji Labs" in Wallpaper & style has been renamed to "Emoji Workshop"
2) The emoji wallpaper is now interactive, as shown off at I/O.
The min SDK version of the Emoji Workshop Wallpaper app is 33, so it can be installed on Android 13+ devices. However, if you sideload it on a device without Google's Wallpaper & style app, you'll have to manually launch the activity to create/set the wallpaper.
The update shows up on Google Play as "Emoji Workshop Wallpaper" and enables you to use the emoji wallpaper feature in Wallpaper & styles.
The listing doesn't appear if you open Google Play on the web, but it does appear if you open it on a Pixel phone as it filters for devices that declare com.google.android.feature.PIXEL_EXPERIENCE.
There are two main differences between the prebuilt Emoji Wallpaper app in the firmware and the updated Emoji Workshop Wallpaper app.
1) "Emoji Labs" in Wallpaper & style has been renamed to "Emoji Workshop"
2) The emoji wallpaper is now interactive, as shown off at I/O.
The min SDK version of the Emoji Workshop Wallpaper app is 33, so it can be installed on Android 13+ devices. However, if you sideload it on a device without Google's Wallpaper & style app, you'll have to manually launch the activity to create/set the wallpaper.
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If you're wondering whether it might be possible for third-party apps to provide their own custom lock screen clocks, my understanding is that no, this currently isn't possible.
From a cursory glance, these lock screen clock APKs seem to utilize the SystemUI Plugins API, which requires the APKs to declare the com.android.systemui.permission.PLUGIN permission. This is a "signature" permission, hence only platform apps can hold it, as they need to be signed by the same certificate used to sign SystemUI.
And since Android 14 reached Platform Stability already, that means a public API for this can't be added until at least Android 15. Not like I expect there to be one, given the security implications and the heavy constraints that would need to be added before opening this up.
From a cursory glance, these lock screen clock APKs seem to utilize the SystemUI Plugins API, which requires the APKs to declare the com.android.systemui.permission.PLUGIN permission. This is a "signature" permission, hence only platform apps can hold it, as they need to be signed by the same certificate used to sign SystemUI.
And since Android 14 reached Platform Stability already, that means a public API for this can't be added until at least Android 15. Not like I expect there to be one, given the security implications and the heavy constraints that would need to be added before opening this up.
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Google may finally roll out the "Protected by Android" badge on permission prompts in Android 14.
This badge was introduced in Android 13, but it was disabled at the build level - until Android 14 Beta 3!
Shown above: Permission prompt w & w/o "Protected by Android" badge
In Android 14 Beta 3, the config value
In order to make the badge appear, the DeviceConfig flag
Another requirement is that the requisite resources (the "Protected by Android" icon and text shown in the permission dialog) exist. These are provided by the GoogleSafetyCenterResources app, which is part of the Permission Mainline module.
Obviously, displaying a little badge that says "Protected by Android" doesn't actually improve security in any way. But it does indicate the device should be running an official GMS Android build (...though I don't see what's stopping anyone from just ripping the resources).
The GoogleSafetyCenterResources app does more than just this, though, as it's also responsible for the configuration of the "Security & privacy" settings.
This badge was introduced in Android 13, but it was disabled at the build level - until Android 14 Beta 3!
Shown above: Permission prompt w & w/o "Protected by Android" badge
In Android 14 Beta 3, the config value
config_safetyProtectionEnabled is now enabled by default. Now, that by itself isn't enough to make the "Protected by Android" badge appear on permission prompts.In order to make the badge appear, the DeviceConfig flag
safety_protection_enabled under the privacy namespace must also be set to true. This can be set remotely by GMS, however, so Google could roll this change out at any time through a server-side update. Another requirement is that the requisite resources (the "Protected by Android" icon and text shown in the permission dialog) exist. These are provided by the GoogleSafetyCenterResources app, which is part of the Permission Mainline module.
Obviously, displaying a little badge that says "Protected by Android" doesn't actually improve security in any way. But it does indicate the device should be running an official GMS Android build (...though I don't see what's stopping anyone from just ripping the resources).
The GoogleSafetyCenterResources app does more than just this, though, as it's also responsible for the configuration of the "Security & privacy" settings.
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