Google has released the first version of Android 14, another operating system of the ecosystem that leads the world’s mobility by market share, the final version of which we expect in the fall of next year.

Android 14 Developer Preview is a preview version aimed at developers so that they can test their applications to guarantee their stability and compatibility before the final version of the system is launched. The version may contain bugs and is not recommended for the general public, but if you want to try it, we will tell you how.

Compatible devices

As always, Google is betting on its own brand of devices to support the first interactions of each version of Android. And it’s reasonable. Imagine having to support all versions of those from other manufacturers with their interfaces and applications, some of which have not yet moved to Android 13… As already said, Supported mobiles for testing this version are:

• Pixel 4a (5G)
• Pixel 5
• Pixel 5 and 5G
• Pixel 6a
• Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
• Pixel 7 and 7 Pro

Version can also be tested in the Android Studio emulator, an option for enthusiasts who want to discover what’s new but still can’t install it natively on their smartphone because they don’t use a Pixel.

All comments received from testers are welcome and more at this preliminary stage of development. As they say from Google, “Making sure Android works well for every billion Android users is a collaborative process between us, the Android hardware makers, and you, our developer community.”.

How to try Android 14 Developer Preview

Preview installation is known from older versions and go through:

• Check the compatibility as we saw in the previous point. Make sure your device is compatible with the version, which is currently only possible with Pixels.
• Create a backup of your files. The preview version may not update and data may be lost.
• Plug a compatible Google Pixel into a USB port on your computer.
• Go to the development page and flash the terminal using the official Android Flash Tool. You can do it from any browser (Chrome, Edge…) and from Windows, Linux, macOS or Chrome OS operating systems.

• The app guides the user step by step and there is no need to have additional tools installed, although you will need to unlock the device, enable USB debugging in the device’s developer options and the ADB environment.
• Add your device to Flash if it doesn’t appear automatically on first launch.

• For full instructions, see the Android Flash Tool documentation at this link.
• You can also download the latest system image and manually update it on your device. Google has released factory images for each of the supported devices. 32-bit and 64-bit images are available.

After testing with Android 14 Developer Preview, you can revert if you want a stable public build Android 13. You can use the official flashing tool or do it manually by downloading the image that matches your terminal.

Android 14, what’s new

Developer previews usually don’t include revolutionary UI changes or new features, as Google often waits for beta versions.

But some brushstrokes of the version have already been announced, which we can summarize as follows:

• Android 14 builds on the work done in Android 12L and 13 to better support new foldable form factors. Google promises developers all devices to optimize their apps in any format and screen size.
• The next Android will allow this scale system text to 200% with a new non-linear font scaling curve. Much more than the maximum 130% found in Pixel phones so far.
• Android 14 will block the installation of applications with a target SDK earlier than version 23. This will prevent apps from bypassing the improved permission model introduced in Android 6.0 in 2015, but will have the side effect of making many older games and apps unable to install.
• Reserve foreground services only for the highest priority tasks so Android can improve resource consumption and battery life.
• compatibility with Credential and access key managerwhich simplifies the authentication process and improves security compared to typical passwords.
• Dynamically uploaded files will be marked as read-only to prevent malware and exploits.
• Google has added new APIs for app and game developers to improve software quality, with a particular focus on improving battery life.
• Faster and smoother updates with each platform version by prioritizing application compatibility.

We’ll have to wait for the first beta to see what’s new in this consumer version, but we expect improvements in performance, multitasking, privacy, battery life, more customization and improving the end-user experience.

Google will periodically update the preview images and development SDK throughout the release cycle. which you can see in the previous picture. This preview is for developers and not intended for everyday or consumer use, but once installed you will automatically receive future updates for all previews and subsequent betas, with the first release expected in mid-March.