While we’re all eagerly awaiting theAndroid 14developer preview, which should hopefully launch soon, Google is still busy with its extended Android 13 beta program to prepare the Android 13 Quarterly Platform Release 2 (QPR2), or the March Feature Drop. Thelatest release to come to us is the Android 13 QPR2 Beta 3, which is mostly concerned with fixing bugs, but it also has a few novelties hidden in the code. Here’s all we learned about Beta 3.
Lock screen shortcuts
Many Android phones, including theNothing Phone 1 on Android 13, already allow you to add custom shortcuts to your lock screen. This makes it possible for you toaccess often-used options quickly. The Google Pixel lineup has only ever offered shortcuts to your smart home controls in the bottom left and your Google Wallet in the bottom right, with no option to change these. Google is working on this, though, as spotted by Mishaal Rahman. The Android expert managed to find and activate hidden flags that make it possible to customize your lock screen shortcuts.
The shortcut options will become a part of the Wallpaper & style app, which will receive a revamped interface in the process. In a new Shortcuts section, Mishaal Rahman was able to select from four different options for shortcuts: Flashlight, Do Not Disturb Mode, Device controls, and Camera. Right now, it doesn’t look like more are supported, but this could change in the future.
Along with the customization options, there is also a tweak to how lock screen shortcuts are activated. With the custom shortcuts enabled, Mishaal Rahman had to tap and hold the buttons to start the action. This makes the feature behave more in line with the iOS lock screen, where you also have to press and hold the buttons to activate them. This is likely meant to reduce accidental touches.
Wallpaper & style redesign
The Wallpaper & style app, which you can access by long-pressing an empty spot on your home screen, is in for a revamp with QPR2. Mishaal Rahman and leaker Kuba Wojciechowski were able to activate a redesigned version of the app that consists of two tabs: Lock screen and home screen.
In the lock screen tab, you have the option to tweak lock screen shortcuts, as mentioned in the section above. The home screen section remains largely as you know it and allows you to toggle on and off dark mode and change the grid size for icons. Note that the color and theming options are only missing because the test build the feature was enabled on doesn’t support Material You.
When you change your wallpaper in this redesigned interface, you’re also greetedwith a new look that opens in a full-screen view automatically. You can switch between the home screen and lock screen at the bottom and set the wallpaper with a button at the top right.
Multitasking with multiple instances of the same app
A new experimental flag makes it easier to multitask with multiple instances of the same app. This is likely mostly aimed at big screen devices like the rumoredGoogle Pixel Foldor theGoogle Pixel Tablet. When enabled, a button appears in the Recents menu that lets you view only windows from a single app. If you have multiple Chrome instances open, for example, you can more easily switch only between those.
Hub Mode settings for Pixel Tablet
The upcoming Google Pixel Tablet is all but confirmed to support a Hub Mode that will make it behave more like a smart display when it’s docked to its base. Mishaal Rahman managed to activate the correspondingsettings panel for the Hub Mode, which collects all options for the hub experience. you may tweak which notifications and reminders from Google Assistant you see there, which screen saving options should be enabled, and if the Pixel Tablet should act as a Cast receiver or not. Note that the options aren’t necessarily Pixel Tablet-exclusive — they could be meant for other tablets as well.
Cinematic wallpapers might only be meant for the Pixel Tablet
Back when Google was working on the initial Android 13 release, the company was spotted working on 3D wallpapers with a “cinematic” effect. The feature would presumably turn images you select into 3D-optimized versions that offer a parallax effect as you move your device. According to the latest findings by Mishaal Rahman, these wallpapers might be exclusive to the Pixel Tablet and other big-screen devices.
The new taskbar for tablets and foldables is gone again
In other tablet news,the new “transient” taskbaris no longer visible by default, which was the case in the second QPR2 beta. Instead, it has to be enabled with a launcher flag. Thus, the behavior is back to the way it was in the first beta. In contrast to the standard taskbar, the transient one would automatically disappear when not in use. We assume that it will be back for the Google Pixel Fold and the Pixel Tablet, though.
Bug fixes and more
On Reddit, there areconflicting reportsregarding the Google One VPN, which was broken in the previous beta version. Some people on older Pixel phones are now able to use Google’s premium VPN again, while some on theGoogle Pixel 7andGoogle Pixel 7 Prostill say that it doesn’t work reliably. For those on the new Pixel phones, this is particularly annoying as the VPN is offered as a free option.
We can also confirm that the launcher search is fully functional again. In Beta 2, the system interface would repeatedly crash when you started a search and then scrolled down. This is no longer the case on Beta 3.
Apart from this, there are dozens of other bug fixes and enhancements added with this release. You can read all about them in theAndroid 13 QPR2 Beta 3 release notespublished by Google.
Join the beta program to live on the bleeding edge yourself
If you’re interested in giving the new QPR beta a try yourself, be sure to learnhow to download and install the Android 13 beta. Just keep in mind that you might run into a bug or two that you wouldn’t encounter on the stable version. After all, these releases are specifically meant to iron out any bugs before they make it into the final release. It’s best to only do this when you have a secondary phone that you can rely on in case of an emergency.
With Beta 3 now out of the way, we should soon see the stable release of QPR2 in the form of the Android 13 March Feature Drop. It will likely arrive early next month.
