The first beta of Android 14 is now available: what’s new

Google I/O, the great annual event of the internet giant, will be held within a month, where all the software and hardware solutions that will be launched during this year are revealed. And, as a preview, the public beta of Android 14.

The software is an update that it keeps trying to maintain privacy, security and performance common within the operating system and adds new application customization options, as well as a smarter interface, among other novelties.

The company has been developing this new version for months, which it has previously brought to testers to test its functionality and which it hopes will be able to officially launch it to users within this year.

The new features are split into two packages that make the UI system “smarter”.

One of them is the so-called framework, which provides operating system services, and the other is the system user interface, which allows you to control such features.

Android leaker Mishaal Rahman posted a tweet showing that the new Android 14 Share menu has already made it to the latest beta of Google Chrome, which has the version number 113.0.5672.24.

In the new version, the “Copy”, “Paste”, “Send to device” and “QR code” buttons are located at the top of the menu just above a new preview of the shared link and two lines with the most frequently used apps and contacts .

Also, according to Google, each app can now offer the flexibility to create its own custom action sheet when sharing. Either a photo, a link or a file.

For example, if you share an Instagram Reel to a group on WhatsApp, your messaging app will be placed higher in the access list in the share sheet instead of a work app like Teams or Slack.

Android 14: Changes to privacy settings

In terms of privacy, the first public beta of the latest version of the Android operating system has a tool that restrict access from applications to sensitive user data.

Another cool change is an improved touch navigation experience that features a larger arrow on the left side of the screen, which is used to navigate back during.

The larger arrow helps “improve the understanding and usefulness of the back emotes” and will work well with the Material You theme system.

In Android 14 apps can also have custom actions via the “ChooserAction” option and a new API (Application Programming Interface) for creating and rendering vector graphics.

Additionally, Android 14 improves per-app language preferences, enabling the “dynamic language set customization” offered by each service installed on the device. It also allows input method editors (IMEs) to know the UI language of each “app”.