Google Releases Android 17 Beta With Performance Boosts, Advanced Camera Features, and Enhanced Privacy: Eligible Devices And How To Install

Hyderabad: Google rolled out the first public beta of Android 17 for Google Pixel devices. It provides early access to the next major version of the operating system (OS) for public users and developers. The update features a range of refinements that are focused on privacy, security, and performance. The tech giant mentions that the Android 17 beta update includes more adaptable Android apps, significant changes to camera and media capabilities, new tools for optimised connectivity, and "expanded profiles for companion devices".

Google says that the Android 17 beta update highlights a fundamental shift in how the platform introduces new releases to developers from the traditional Developer Preview to the Android Canary programme.

Android 17 beta update: What's new

For adaptive apps and large screen changes, the Android 17 beta update has removed the developer opt-out for orientation restrictions on tablets and foldables. Apps that feature SDK 37 (the OS' API) will support all orientations and be resizable on large screens (sw > 600dp). Games are exempt from these restrictions. To enhance app compatibility and minimise interrupted video playback, dropped input, and other types of disruptive state loss, starting from Android 17, the system will not restart activities by default for specific configuration changes, including keyboard, navigation, UI mode, touchscreen, and colour mode.

For performance, the Android 17 beta update introduces a lock-free MessageQueue implementation for apps targeting SDK 37 or higher, which improves overall performance and reduces missed frames. The update also brings generational garbage collection to ART's Concurrent Mark-Compact collector, featuring more frequent but less resource-intensive young-generation collections alongside full-heap collections. This aims to reduce garbage collection CPU cost and time duration.

Android 17 makes static final fields truly immutable, preventing modifications via reflection or JNI methods, allowing the runtime to apply more aggressive performance optimisations. The update restricts custom notification view sizes to reduce memory usage and introduces new ProfilingManager triggers for debugging performance issues, including cold start, out-of-memory situations, and excessive CPU usage.

In terms of media and camera, the Android 17 beta brings professional-grade tools to media and camera applications. Dynamic Camera Session Updates allow developers to attach and detach output surfaces without reconfiguring the entire camera capture session, enabling seamless transitions between shooting modes without glitches or freezes.

For logical multi-camera devices, Android 17 now provides access to metadata from all active physical cameras involved in a capture, not just the primary one. The update adds support for Versatile Video Coding (VVC/H.266), a next-generation video compression standard, and introduces Constant Quality mode for video recording, giving developers finer control over video quality beyond simple bitrate settings.

Background audio interactions now face stricter enforcement, with the audio framework restricting background audio playback, audio focus requests, and volume change APIs to ensure these changes are initiated intentionally by users.

For privacy and security, the cleartext traffic attribute has been deprecated in Android 17. Apps targeting the new OS without a corresponding Network Security Configuration will default to disallowing cleartext traffic. Google is also introducing a public Service Provider Interface for HPKE hybrid cryptography, enabling secure communication using a combination of public key and symmetric encryption.

In terms of connectivity, Android 17 has enhanced VoIP call history integration that supports caller and participant avatar URIs in the system dialer, along with granular user control over call log privacy. Wi-Fi Ranging has been upgraded with new Proximity Detection capabilities, supporting continuous ranging and secure peer-to-peer discovery.

The CompanionDeviceManager introduces two new profiles: Medical Devices and Fitness Trackers. These profiles allow companion apps to request necessary permissions with a single tap and provide distinct user experiences with appropriate icons.

Android 17 beta: Eligible devices

Here's the list of all eligible Google Pixel devices that support the Android 17 beta update:

• Pixel 6
• Pixel 6 Pro
• Pixel 6a
• Pixel 7
• Pixel 7 Pro
• Pixel 7a
• Pixel Tablet
• Pixel Fold
• Pixel 8
• Pixel 8 Pro
• Pixel 8a
• Pixel 9
• Pixel 9 Pro XL
• Pixel 9 Pro
• Pixel 9 Pro Fold
• Pixel 9a
• Pixel 10
• Pixel 10 Pro XL
• Pixel 10 Pro
• Pixel 10 Pro Fold

Android 17 beta: How to install

Here are the steps to install the Android 17 beta update on Pixel phones:

Step 1: Visit the Android Beta Programme website.

Step 2: Sign in with your Google account.

Step 3: Select your Pixel device and enrol on the programme.

Step 4: After enrolling, go to Settings > System > Software Update on your phone.

Step 5: Now check for updates and download Android 17 Beta when it appears.