Google launches Android 11 Beta, downloads now available for Pixel phones
Android 11 is now one OTA update away.
- As of June 10, you can now download the Android 11 Beta on your Pixel phone.
- The beta adds chat bubbles, easier access to smart home controls, and revamped permissions.
- Google's also pushing a "Modern Android Development" initiative with new developer tools.
To say that 2020 has been a rough year would be the understatement of the century. Various events have uprooted just about every sector on the planet, including the consumer tech space. After canceling Google I/O and then the virtual Android Beta Launch Show that was scheduled for June 3, Google has now quietly dropped the Android 11 public beta with very little fanfare.
Starting today, June 10, you can head to the Android Beta Program website, enroll your Pixel 2, Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, or Pixel 4 into it, and download Android 11 to start playing with it right now. A lot of what you'll find in the beta are things we've been talking about with the various developer previews, the difference now being that everything should actually work.
Google says it's focusing on three key areas with Android 11, those being People, Controls, and Privacy.
In regards to People, the goal here is to make it easier to stay in touch with friends/family. The notification panel now has a dedicated section at the top for all of your ongoing conversations. In addition to making your conversation notifications easier to see, you'll also find options to add a shortcut to your home screen, create a reminder, or opening that conversation in one of Android 11's other new features - a chat bubble.
These chat bubbles in Android 11 look a lot like the ones we've had with the Facebook Messenger app for years, allowing you to easily access your conversations anywhere on your phone and discretely hide them in a bubble when you don't want to see them. Chat/texting apps need to adopt the new Bubbles API in order for the feature to work, so all of your favorite apps may not support it right away.
Google's also improving keyboard suggestions and its accessibility tool that allows users to control their device entirely by voice.
Moving over to Controls, the highlight here is the new user interface you'll see when holding the power button on your phone. This currently shows your Google Pay credit/debit cards in Android 10, but in Android 11 they'll be joined by Google Pay passes and controls for smart home devices (such as smart lights, plugs, locks, thermostats, etc.).
Also new in Android 11 are Media Controls, which Google describes as a new feature that, "makes it quick and convenient for users to switch the output device for their audio or video content, whether it be headphones, speakers or even their TV." You'll need to dive into Developer Options if you want to enable it today, but it'll be turned on by default in later builds of the beta.
Last but certainly not least, let's talk about what Android 11 does for Privacy.
Permissions were a big focus for Android 10, and that continues this year, too. You'll now find that you can grant one-time permissions to apps requesting access to your microphone, camera, or location. It'll be able to use those things that one time, but when you close the app, the permissions are revoked and they'll need to be requested the next time you use the app.
Android 11 also adds an auto-reset feature for permissions, which will revoke all runtime permissions an app has access to if you haven't used it for "an extended period." When this happens, you'll get a notification and the app will need to re-request access to said permissions.
Those are all of the user-facing changes Google's shining the spotlight on for the Android 11 Beta, but as always, there are bound to be other small tweaks and changes as we dig deeper into this release and future ones.
Coinciding with the beta release, Google is launching a new initiative called "Modern Android Development" that houses all of its current and new developer tools. Various improvements are being made to Android Studio, Kotlin, Jetpack, and the Google Play Console, all of which you can read more about here.
Android 11: Everything you need to know!