Google is rolling out the Android 14 Developer Preview on the Google Pixel and other Android devices.

After a month, Android 14 Developer Preview 2 was released. This more refined version also gives us a glimpse of future Android features. This update has a credential manager platform API that supports multiple sign-in methods. This is identical to apps like Passkeys and Dashlane, but it has now been integrated with Android. Google has also updated its Photo Picker, improving system health, battery life, and optimized memory management. So, let us begin this article by discussing all the essential features and providing a download guide.

• New system: Finally, the company has started using the new system icon for Android 14, which appears in different locations. You might have seen this icon as the logo of Android 14 or in marketing material for Android 14. However, it has not yet appeared in the Android Easter Egg, but it will appear soon, so you can expect it to come with future beta updates.
• Gesture: Slight adjustments have been made. The gestures have been slightly adjusted, with the back gesture housed within a pill-shaped container. It also adopts the Material-You design and picks a color based on your wallpaper. This looks better as you will now use it; with that appearance, it feels more native. To make things easier, the navigation mode has now been moved to Device Settings > System Navigation mode, where you can use gesture mode. You can still access this from the display settings section. The long or predictive gesture has started appearing with this build, but it doesn’t seem well-cooked and looks like it needs more time to become stable. It is supposed to work across devices, but it can only be seen in Device Settings. You can find this under the SAS settings menu, but as we mentioned, it’s not working as intended.
• Improved security and privacy: Google introduced the Security & Privacy Menu with the launch of Android 13. Android 14 has been expanded to include a dedicated page for all the settings instead of previously being compiled with a drop-down menu. It has more security and privacy settings sections, which appeared in the previous build and have now been merged into this.
• Material You: A new touch highlight in the settings is now more rounded and pill-shaped. This makes the UI more cohesive, and there is still much space left for Google to work on Material You.
• Launcher and lock screen: This time, the launcher, lock screen, and widgets received major improvements with features that have been available for years. Now, there will be one line on the lock screen for the date and weather, and there is no option at this stage for switching.
• Language and input: As previously reported, this now comes from where you can make unique regional changes like temperature units, the first day of the week, and numbers. This exists within the in-app language settings so that users have similar experiences and have more control.
• Flash notification: This setting is under the Accessibility option in Device Settings. Enabling it allows you to use the LED as a notification alert, so when you receive a notification, your device’s LED will light up. Additionally, there is an option for screen notification, utterly independent of camera flash notification.
• Media Player: There is a minor Media Player animation tweak. Now, it slides down and expands on the lock screen. Also, when you interact with the Media Player in Quick Settings, there is a glow-animation effect with a complimentary color added back in Android 13, but removed for some reason. Things don’t end here. The Media Output switcher also works the same, and there is a new icon to indicate whether audio is muted or not, along with a volume slider.
• Wallpaper and style: You can now view a full-screen wallpaper preview and an information toggle. There is also an option to choose a custom clock, but it does not work now. Also, there is a monochrome switch rather than quick settings, a themed menu, or a button; instead, it will now be an on-device system theme in the preset.
• AOD and lock screen: Everything has been shifted higher, and it’s more towards the upper-right corner. There is now a big gap with everything, and it’s not consistent. When you move to the home screen, everything seems quite similar with notifications, weather info, time, etc.
• Sound and vibration: When you open Sound & Vibration from the Media Control Card and dismiss it or close it, it will now slide to the left where previously it used to go down.
• Screenshot of Detect: Now, apps can detect screenshot activity and notify users as well. This will allow apps to track, and in case any malicious activity happens, you will get a notification in case some other app has taken a screenshot without your knowledge.
• Allow dismissal of Non-Dismissable Notifications: We have all faced situations where we cannot dismiss some notifications. With Android 14, users can now dismiss non-dismissable notifications.
• Apps can now only kill their background Processes. Now, apps can only kill their background processes. In contrast, previously, apps were allowed to kill other apps’ background processes, so apps that clean background processes will face some trouble on Android 14 devices.
• Create wallpapers with emojis: You can now create custom emojis with Emoji Labs. From there, you can choose the number of emojis you want to create wallpaper with and then select patterns and background colors. You can also use a slider to adjust according to your preferences. That is it!

Download Android 14 Developer Preview 2

So, if you are already enrolled in the preview, those users will receive an automatic OTA (over-the-air) update. However, if you are not enrolled in the preview, you must manually download the build from here. Note that you should make a proper backup before proceeding, and we do not recommend using this build on your primary device. Follow this guide to install Android 14 here.

To flash this build, users can use the Android Flash tool and then install it by signing in with their Google Account and following the on-screen instructions; for this, users need to unlock OEM and enable USB debugging. Android 14 is expected to arrive with the final build in April.