Google is developing Android TV 14 on a set-top box called the ADT-4. However, unlike with previous ADTs, Google doesn't plan to sell it. So if you want to develop an Android TV app for TV 14, you'll have to stick to the emulator. More details here.

Personally, this is disappointing. TV apps that utilize advanced display or sound formats can't test everything on the emulator. Not everyone will have an Amlogic contract, so even if you obtain the S905X4 reference device through a 3P, how will you get updated builds?

The Chromecast with Google TV (HD) and (4K) are consumer devices w/o access to Android TV beta builds. They currently run TV 12 while Google's working on TV 14. So while they're good for testing retail device behavior, they won't be useful for testing new platform versions.

The July 2023 Android Security Bulletin is live, listing the vulnerabilities patched in the 2023-07-0X security patch level.

The bulletin also publicizes that CVE-2023-26083 (Mali GPU kernel driver bug), CVE-2021-29256 (also Mali bug), and CVE-2023-2136 (Skia bug) are under "limited, targeted exploitation."

The Pixel's "recents URL sharing" feature which lets you share links from the recents menu is no longer a Pixel-exclusive feature, because ASUS quietly implemented it in their Android 13-based ZenUI OS!

The Pixel's recents menu enhancements (especially the ability to share text/images) is one of its most underrated exclusive features. I wish other OEMs would replicate it. Enabling the recents URL sharing feature seems simple enough, so hopefully more OEMs add it!

I checked/asked a bunch of users with OEM devices from Samsung, OnePlus/OPPO, Xiaomi, Sony, Nothing, etc. and I couldn't find any other OEM launcher that implemented this feature. No custom ROM that I've seen has it either, but if you know of one, let me know!

The docs for "recents URL sharing" still says that it's Pixel only, but I guess that's now incorrect in light of this news. ASUS doesn't sell many smartphones (they do make great phones), though, so it's not like this one OEM will move the needle in terms of developer interest.

More details here.

This isn't Android news, but if you want to follow me on Threads, you can find me here.

I'm still on Twitter @MishaalRahman, where I'll be posting most of my stuff. I'll still of course post to this channel as well as to Mastodon (@MishaalRahman@AndroidDev.social) in case you want to follow me somewhere that isn't owned by Twitter or Meta.

If Google does enable display output/launch desktop mode on the Pixel 8 series, then I hope they include a way to navigate on the external display that doesn't involve a physical mouse, in case you just want to hook your phone up to watch a video.

Many OEMs include a feature that lets you use your phone as a touchpad, and I recently learned of a third-party app on Google Play called "Real Mouse" that enables this on devices where that's not built-in.

The app needs shell-level privileges, which can be granted by running an ADB command or using Shizuku, in order to talk to the Linux kernel driver to act as a "real mouse" (hence the name).

Shown above: Real Mouse running on an ASUS ROG Phone 5, which supports display output but doesn't have a customized desktop mode UI.

(Other apps that use Shizuku in clever ways.)

Android 15 "Vanilla Ice Cream" will require Linux kernel 4.19, dropping support for Linux 4.14.

This is expected as with each release, the oldest supported Linux kernel version is bumped. eg. Android 14 required Linux 4.14+ while Android 13 required Linux 4.9+.

Google maintains a table that shows the kernel versions supported and tested with each Android platform release. The table hasn't been updated to note Android 15's kernel requirements, let alone Android 14's, of course.

The projected EOL for Linux 4.14 is Jan. 2024 anyways, so it makes sense to drop support in V. Still, RIP the Pixel 4a, which runs Linux 4.14 but won't be getting Android 14 (at least not officially).

Google debuted Project Mainline alongside Android 10, modularizing various system components so they can be updated through the Play Store instead of through regular OTA updates. However, it seems Mainline support for Android 10 devices is winding down.

The min SDK versions of the DNS Resolver, CaptivePortalLogin, Connectivity, and NetworkStack modules have all recently been bumped to '30' (Android 11) from '29' (Android 10), with the reason being that "Mainline push to Q was stopped in February 2023."

This is not surprising, as Feb. 2023 is also when Google ended security patch backports for Android 10. Theoretically, Google could support Android 10 devices for longer since these modules are decoupled from the OS. But that would just mean they'd only be partially protected.

Curiously, I checked with several users, some of whom report that they have Android 10 devices on the May 2023 Google Play System Update version. Not all modules have had their min SDKs bumped yet, so they may have still gotten some updated modules.

When Google first launched Project Mainline with Android 10, only a handful of modules were required for newly launched devices:

- DocumentsUI
- ExtServices
- Media Codecs
- Media Framework components
- Module Metadata
- Permission Controller
- Time Zone data

There were other modules, like Captive Portal Login, Conscrypt, DNS Resolver, and Network Stack, but these were only "strongly recommended".

If you want to learn more about Project Mainline, this blog post I co-wrote with Jonathan Levin is the best resource on it😁

The July 2023 Google Play System Update quietly enabled the Photo Picker for more apps on Android 13+. In certain apps like Google Chat & Keep, the new Photo Picker will now be invoked instead of the old system file picker. (Attached to this post is a video demonstration.)

This change is a bit tough to explain fully in a thread, but back in December, I discovered that Google rolled out a Play System Update that enabled this change once a server-side flag was flipped. However, the flag was reverted one month later.

(The technical explanation for how the Photo Picker is able to intercept apps' calls to the system file picker [AKA DocumentsUI] can be found in this article.)

So what's actually changed in the July 2023 GPSU? Did Google just flip the server-side DeviceConfig flag again? Nope! Instead, MediaProvider's PhotoPickerGetContentActivity is now enabled by default. Previously it was disabled until the take_over_get_content flag was set to true.

Some devices with the June 2023 GPSU are also seeing this change, though I believe that's only the case for devices that ship with the UPB3.230519.008 version of MediaProvider (AKA the one preinstalled with Android 14 Beta 3).

If your app invokes the GET_CONTENT intent with an image or video mime type in order to let the user select files through the system file picker, then be aware that they'll now instead see the new Photo Picker on Android 13+ 😁

Note that although Google backported the Photo Picker to Android 4.4+ through GMS, I don't think they've implemented this "GET_CONTENT" takeover behavior yet in GMS. Hence users on older versions will continue seeing the old DocumentsUI when that intent is invoked.

As for other devices that support the framework Photo Picker - ie. Android 11-12L - I'm not sure if the GET_CONTENT takeover has also been enabled by default for them with the July 2023 GPSU.

Will follow up when I find out!

FINALLY! Gboard is preparing to add an "undo" function so you can recover deleted words/sentences. Here's a demo of the feature in the latest beta release.

Credits go to Akos Paha from the Rboard Themes Telegram group for discovering this!

Samsung made a great feature called Maintenance Mode that hides your apps & personal data so you don't have to factory reset your phone before sending it in for repair.

Google should DEFINITELY bring this to Pixel phones and I have an idea of how.

Before you say, "can't they just use a guest profile or add another user?" Well, yes but also no, because Android requires the primary user's credentials when it boots up.

Instead, Google can leverage Dynamic System Updates (DSU) to simulate a factory reset but without actually deleting any data.

My latest article for Android Central goes into detail on how this could be done, along with a demo video of this new factory reset-less DSU in Android 14.

Android 14 Beta 4 just dropped, so here’s my thread covering what’s new 🧵

(First look at the new Easter egg!)

Google has announced Android 14 Beta 4! Beta 4 is available for the Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold as well.

This is the fourth Android 14 beta release available for users in the Android Beta program! There should be one more beta before the stable release.

Since Android 14 reached Platform Stability with Beta 3, Beta 4 doesn’t introduce any new APIs or app-facing system behaviors. However, there are some user-facing changes in this release, including the new Easter egg!

Edit: The update is now actually rolling out, by the way. The factory images/OTA files for Pixels are up, as are the release notes.

From the ashes of All About Android comes the new Android Faithful podcast, and its first episode is out featuring yours truly!

We talk about Android 14 Beta 4, the Pixel Fold, and much more, so check it out!

I saw that new Android 14 UDC Easter Egg and I really wanted to try it on my Android 12 and 13 devices, so I patched the APK to work there.

It’s possible it works on older versions of Android, but that’s up to you to try.