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The most important new options in Android 13

Google gave Android a visual spit-and-polish with Material You, a major part of Android 12. It landed first on Pixel devices, and has slowly been making its way to other manufacturers’ phones, but there’s already a new version on the horizon .

Android 13 won’t be a major departure in terms of styling – instead it’ll build on the groundwork established by Material You. But that doesn’t mean it’s all back-end upgrades. Here are the biggest new additions you can expect once the OS update is ready to hit your handset.

More Material You

Source: Google

If Android 12 was the starting point for an all-new visual style, Android 13 is going to streamline it even further. Third-party app icons can now match your chosen colors, as well as Google’s own, for finer-grain control over how your homescreen looks. If you don’t want your theme colors to match your wallpaper, there are now a selection of complimentary presets to pick from.

The media control notification tray widget has picked up some Material You skills. It can now change color based on album art, and the progress bar now grooves along to the beat of your tracks.

Tablet friendly

Originally tested as part of Android 12L, a beta OS built for big screens, it now looks like Android 13 will make most of those tweaks. A new taskbar will sit at the bottom of the screen now, putting frequently-used apps in easy reach even when you’re in apps. Want a full screen view? You can hide the taskbar and then swipe to bring it back.

The notification tray has been redesigned, with a new two-column layout that makes better use of the extra space of a tablet. Drag-and-drop multitasking is in, along with app pairs that you can keep pinned in the Recents view.

Google is gearing up to refresh more than 20 of its own apps with large screen support, including YouTube Music and Google Maps. The updates should be out long before Android 13 is officially released, but beta testers will be able to sample them early.

Leave your wallet at home

Source: Google

Google Pay is set to morph into Google Wallet with Android 13, as a one-stop shop for all your essentials. As well as the payment cards and loyalty cards already supported by Google Pay, the reborn Google Wallet will eventually support digital forms of identification. Google is working with governments worldwide to support driving licenses, with certain US states set to be the first to get in on the action later this year.

Office badges, hotel room keys and digital car keys are promised, as well as a secure place to store your vaccination status. It will all be integrated with other Google apps, too, so Google Maps can display your subway card balance when you search for directions.

Multi-device plays nice

Source: Google

Having laid the groundwork with Chromecast and Fast Pair, Google is looking to make inter-device use even more seamless with Android 13. Casting is being extended from phones, PCs and TVs to new devices, including certain cars. If a call comes in on your phone while you’re watching a video on a tablet, your headphones will automatically switch audio.

Soon it’ll be possible to copy text, web URLs and pictures on a phone, and paste them on a tablet without needing to manually share them first. Matter, the incoming smart home standard, makes it all possible, and will be baked in to Android 13.

Even more secure

Source: Google

Security was a big part of Android 12, but there’s always room for improvement. One of the big focuses is RCS support for Google Messages, which is getting end-to-end encryption for group chats. Right now, it’s only good for one-to-one messages, but wider support should be arriving later this year.

Apps will now need to ask permission for individual files or images when sharing, rather than gaining access to your entire photo library.

A new security screen will highlight areas you might want to improve, in order to keep your data safe and away from ne’er-do-wells.

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