Android 14

Android 14 is the fourteenth major release and the 21st version of Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. It was released to the public and the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) on October 4, 2023. The first devices to ship with Android 14 are the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
History
Android 14 (internally codenamed Upside Down Cake), was announced on February 8, 2023. A developer preview was released immediately, as well as a roadmap with the dates of updates. This contained another developer preview, which was published on March 8, as well as four monthly beta versions. The first beta was released on April 12, which received a hotfix to Beta 1.1 on April 26. The second beta was released on May 10, which also received a hotfix to Beta 2.1 on May 25. The third beta version was released on June 7, now reaching platform stability, which later received a hotfix to Beta 3.1 on June 14. The fourth beta version was released on July 11. Android 14 had between Android 13's Aug 15 2022 release, surpassing the Android 9 - 10 duration of .
The beta versions are available for Pixel devices that are guaranteed Android version updates, the Pixel 4a (5G) or newer devices. Pixel 7a can also beta test Android 14 since Beta 3. The Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold have been able to beta test Android 14 since Beta 4.
Features
User experience
Building on the new option added in Android 13 to set languages individually for apps, this feature has been expanded and is easier to implement for developers. Furthermore, the new "Grammatical Inflection API" has been added to allow different salutations in languages when a message refers to the user in a gender-specific language.
Android 14 will provide the ability to increase the font size up to 200% compared to 130% in previous versions, combined with nonlinear font scaling to prevent large text elements on screen from scaling too large, and it is now possible to specify the temperature unit (Fahrenheit, Celsius, or Kelvin) which should be used in applications.
The Material You design language, introduced in Android 12 and supplemented in Android 13, gets revised default colors in Android 14. Android 14 also introduces additional lock screen customization options, such as changing the clock and weather style.
A predictive back gesture animation shows the destination of the back gesture and indicates when the back gesture will close or return to another app.
For devices with a larger screen, such as tablets, the taskbar is expanded in Android 14 and now shows the names of the pinned apps.
Android 14 will allow a phone to be configured as a webcam when plugged into a computer or another Android device.
Battery life
Other innovations improve battery life by making internal processes more efficient for users. In addition, there is now the option to choose directly between energy-saving mode and extreme energy-saving mode.
The screen time since the last full charge is now displayed in the battery settings. The battery consumption is shown separately from system and app applications. This feature was replaced with the launch of Android 12 by showing battery usage over the past 24 hours.
Privacy and security
In order to improve privacy, the user is given the opportunity to decide for themselves which images an app may access.
Google is blocking the installation of apps that target versions of Android below Marshmallow (6.0). With Android 14, users will no longer be able to install or download apps that target SDK version 22 or lower. The change is intended to curb the spread of malware, which intentionally targets older versions of Android to bypass security restrictions introduced on newer versions. An ADB install flag is included to bypass the restriction.
There is also a small change for guest mode or multiuser mode, where the "Allow guest to use phone" option has been moved to the top level menu. Previously, this option was behind the guest account itself.
Health Connect
Incorporating Health Connect as one of the new features of Android 14, users can now access it through the all-new Pixel's settings menu. Health Connect collaborates with apps like Fitbit, Samsung Health, and Google Fit.
Reported issues
On some Pixel devices where multiple user profiles have been configured, the user may be unable to access their data with the main user profile, or have their phone stuck in a boot loop. Google acknowledged the issue on October 30, and is working on fixes.
References
External links
Android 14 on Android Developers – Official website for developer information
2023 software
Android (operating system)