Last month Google released the first Developer Preview of Android 14, and today the company is back with the second Developer Preview. The new release comes with additional enhancements to privacy, security, and performance, and continues to refine the experience on tablets and foldables.
Following this Developer Preview, the first Beta release will arrive in April, followed by three more in subsequent months, according to Google’s official timeline.
Android 14 Developer Preview 2 has built in support for allowing apps to access only select photos and videos, or access to all of them, or no access at all. You can see the new dialog for this below.
In Android 14, Credential Manager is a platform API, and this allows apps to sign-in using passkeys. In the second DP, there are improvements to the UI styling of the account selector, along with changes to the API based on feedback to DP1.
Apps targeting Android 14 (which will be a very small subset initially) will need to grant privileges to start activities in the background.
DP2 comes with optimizations to Android’s memory management system, improving resource usage while apps are running in the background. There will also be fewer non-dismissible notifications in Android 14, and there are improved APIs for app stores too.
With Regional preferences, once your device gets Android 14, you’ll be able to personalize temperature units, the first day of the week, and numbering system, based on your region. So if you’re a European living in the States you won’t be stuck with Fahrenheit anymore.
The second Developer Preview is still, as the name implies, only recommended for app developers to use for app testing. Once the first beta hits next month, consumers will get easier access too. Android 14 Developer Preview 2 is installable on the Pixel 4a 5G and later Google devices.
