Gboard starts rolling out a redesigned Fast Access bar and a new 'Privacy' settings page.

New features in the Quick Access Toolbar:
• New button to access the shortcut arrangement customization
• Shortcuts can now be dragged inside access bar;
• Number of shortcuts is no longer limited to a specific number;
• Voice input button can now be replaced by any other shortcut;
• New shortcuts: Emoji and language switcher;

On the privacy settings page, you can configure:
• Sharing statistics
• Personalization
• Collecting data to improve Gboard
• Deletion of learned words and data
• Sending snippets of audio recorded during voice input

The changes are distributed from the server side.

Google News | En

Google has officially announced the Android Privacy Sandbox beta-test.

Yes, previously we have already seen the settings pages, indicating the beta test, but now the company has officially announced it. At first, only a small percentage of Android 13 devices will be eligible for the beta test, after which that group will increase. If your device is selected, you will receive an Android notification informing you of this.

The Privacy Sandbox beta provides new APIs that are designed with privacy in mind and do not use identifiers to track your activity in apps and on websites. Apps that participate in the beta will be able to use these APIs to show you relevant ads and measure their effectiveness.

🔗 Developer guidance on how to participate in the Beta

🔗 Google Blog

Google News | En

Here's how the Cloud Media app settings for Android Photo Picker will look like.

As Mishal Rahman discovered, the January Google Play system update brought an updated MediaProvider app, which includes a settings page that lets you choose the Cloud Media app where you store your photos and videos.

Eventually, the first such cloud media provider app is supposed to be Google Photos, so when you call PhotoPicker you can see photos and videos not only from your device, but also from the cloud. But so far the Google Photos developers have not implemented support for this feature.

Google News | En

Google Home will soon show its own panel with Favorite devices on the system's Device Controls page.

The latest update of version 2.65.6.1-dogfood added a new Systemcontrol.panel.GoogleHomePanelAcivity. In the future, when you call System Device Controls page and select Google Home, you will see exactly this Activity.

Here you will see all the devices that are present in the favorites tab of the *redesigned* Google Home app. In essence, the added activity copies this tab. You will also be able to edit the list of devices on this page as in the app.

Google News | En

Google introduced Partial Custom Tabs, web pages that partially overlap the app.

Normally, when you open a link in an app and think you're still in it, you actually see Custom Tabs (from your default browser). Now Google is going a step further by adding a new feature called Partial Custom Tabs, which opens pages as expandable bottom sheet.

Developers can customize the tab "in pixels" for a partial overlay, allowing users to interact with the app and the web page at the same time. Partial Custom Tabs are currently supported by several browsers, including Chrome. If the browser doesn't support Partial Custom Tabs, users will simply see a full-screen Custom Tab.

We've seen this behavior before in the Google Search app.

🔗 Android Developers Blog

Google News | En

Google Contacts will soon get two new widgets.

The first one is an Individual contact widget with shortcuts to call and open a chat in Messages, and when you click in the middle it opens the info page. (we've seen it before as 'Single Contact' widget)

The second widget shows up to 7 favorite contacts and dynamically changes its layout depending on the number of contacts and container size. It also opens a page with contact information when clicked.

These widgets were discovered in version 4.2.24.508113282. (Those widgets are not rolled out yet)

Google News | En

Play Store is experimenting with hiding the search bar in a button.

As many of you have already noticed, Google recently moved the notification button from the profile menu to the top bar, thereby reducing the width of the search bar.

As part of a new experiment, the company wants to completely hide the search bar in the magnifying glass button and add the Play Store logo to the top bar. (Flag name HomepageTopBar_enable_magnifying_glass_search)

Google News | En

Android 13 QPR2 Beta 3.2 minor update has been released.

Build number: T2B3.230109.004 → T2B3.230109.009, T2B3.230109.006.A1 (Pixel 7 Pro only)
Security Patch: February 2023
Fixed Issues:

• Fixed issues that sometimes caused the screen on some devices to flash green or display other visual artifacts. (Issue #260941279, Issue #256052135)
• Jio 5G network is now enabled for Pixel 6 and 7 series devices.

🔗 Android Beta

• OTA images

• Factory Images

Google News | En

Gboard works on a new tool to change the size of the keyboard without opening settings.

Previously, to resize the keyboard, you had to open settings/preferences and select options under "Keyboard height". Now Google plans to add a new "Resize" shortcut, which will allow you to visually adjust the size of the keyboard, both in height and width, as well as set its position. You will be able to reset the changes made to the value set in the settings, using the corresponding button.

This experiment appeared in the new beta update 12.7.05 and is hidden behind the enable_new_resizing_ui flag.

H/T @rkbdigboard

Google News | En

This video causes a reboot on Tensor powered Pixel devices.

When you open this video in the YouTube app, the device instantly goes into reboot. Although it is worth noting this is a "soft" reboot that takes you straight to the boot animation. This indicates a system crash.

Apparently, the problem only affected Google Tensor-based devices on the stable build of Android 13, and it may have something to do with HDR video processing.

However, this issue does not occur on the beta version of Android 13 QPR2 (release in 2 weeks) and Android 14 Developer preview 1, so in fact the problem has already been fixed.

Redditor u/OGPixel5 seems to be the first to discover this video.

Google News | En

Play Store is finally works on fully integrating the Material You dynamic colors.

Until now, the only elements that followed dynamic colors were the navigation bar and the search bar on the home page. All other places used the standard green accent.

However, in version 34.7.10-21, we found the beginning of work to extend dynamic colors to all components. The new MaterialNextBaselineTheming__enable_baseline_theming_everywhere server flag is responsible for the activation.

As we said, the work has just begun, because for now the accent is fixed only on the blue color.

Google News | En