Random Musings on the Android 13 Developer Beta 1

Random Musings on the Android 13 Developer Beta 1

Every time Google releases a new developer preview, I rummage by way of
the API variations report
the high-stage overviews,
and even the release weblog put up,
to see if there are matters that warrant much more attention from
developers. I consider to emphasize mainstream characteristics that any developer
could possibly moderately use, along with issues that may well not
get very as a great deal interest, for the reason that they are buried in the JavaDocs.

Once we get to beta releases, variations to the API area should really start to diminish,
and Android 13 Beta 1 is no exception. The API differences report is a portion
of what arrived in the two developer previews, and even individuals appeared smaller than in previous
yrs.

What Will Split You, Ultimately

Examine_External_STORAGE effectively is deprecated. As soon as your targetSdkVersion hits
33 (for most builders, in 2023), you will need to halt requesting Read_External_STORAGE
and get started requesting one particular or more of:

• Examine_MEDIA_AUDIO
• Study_MEDIA_Photos
• Examine_MEDIA_Video clip

Those will have an effect on your capacity to read from the typical shared media collections. For other
styles of content material, use the Storage Entry Framework.

What Could Break You, Faster

Mishaal Rahman of Esper wrote this week about predictive back navigation.

(IMHO, “predictive” frequently means “royally screwed up”)

Mishaal goes into a whole lot of element,
but the upshot is that it seems that Google would like to use animations to enable show
to a user when a technique Back again navigation gesture will mail the user to the residence monitor versus
carrying out a thing else. If you take care of your personal Again navigation, these types of as by overriding
onBackPressed() somewhere, you may perhaps need to have to migrate to the new OnBackInvokedDispatcher
strategy, and you may need to fiddle with android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback
if you find that “predictive back navigation” breaks factors.

As Mishaal notes, with any luck , this Google I|O session
will clarify issues.

BTW, take note that OnBackInvokedDispatcher moved from android.look at to android.window
in Beta 1.

What Else Adjusted?

There is an option now to hear to when the keyguard will come and goes.
This involves a new SUSBSCRIBE_TO_KEYGUARD_LOCKED_State
authorization. However, this is intended only for use by Part_ASSISTANT applications, so it
will not be offered to quite a few developers.

Some notable factors have been deprecated:

The mysterious SPLASH_Monitor_Type_Empty worth was
renamed to SPLASH_Display screen_Style_Good_Colour
and appears to give you a way of opting out of obtaining an icon on the required splash display screen.

Ultimately, if you have been applying the drive-dim options on WebSettings, these were being
deprecated and changed by “algorithmic darkening allowed” methods,
due to the fact individuals names just roll off the tongue.

What Comes Upcoming?

We are slated to get three far more beta releases. I count on there to be several API variations.
If that turns out to be real, most probable this will be the very last “random musings”
post for the Android 13 cycle.

The remaining release day is murky, as normal, but most likely is in the August/September
timeframe. Be positive to spending budget time in May/June (if not faster) to start off actively playing with Android 13 and
screening your app’s compatibility with it.

— Apr 30, 2022