Android 13 arrives for Pixel phones

This year’s major Android update, Android 13, is officially releasing today for Google’s Pixel phones, the search giant has announced. The annual update is getting an official release a little earlier than usual, following Android 12’s release last October and Android 11’s release in September 2020.

The list of updates arriving with this year’s version of Android is likely to be familiar if you’ve been keeping up with Android 13’s beta releases. There’s the ability to customize non-Google app icons to match your homescreen wallpaper that we saw in Android 13’s first developer preview, a new permission to cut down on notification spam, and a new option to limit which of your photos and videos an app can access.

Image: Google

Back in January, we wrote that Google planned to spend this year catching up with Apple’s ecosystem integrations, and there’s more evidence of this in Android 13’s official release. The update includes support for spatial audio with head tracking, which is designed to make sounds appear as though they’re coming from a fixed point in space when you move your head while wearing compatible headphones, similar to a feature Apple offers for its AirPods. Today’s post doesn’t say exactly which headphones this will work with, but Google previously announced it would be updating its Pixel Buds Pro to offer support for spatial audio.

Secondly, there’s the ability to stream messages from apps including Google Messages directly to a Chromebook, similar to iMessage on the Mac. It’s another feature that Google detailed in January. As well as its own Messages app, one of Google’s promotional assets also shows this working with the messaging app Signal, and the company says the feature will work with “many of your other favorite messaging apps.” The update also includes a feature that lets you copy content from an Android phone to be pasted on an Android tablet and vice versa.

Image: Google

Image: Google

Other Android 13 features include the ability to set languages on a per-app basis, a redesigned media player that adjusts its look based on what you’re listening to, support for Bluetooth Low Energy for better sound quality at lower bitrates and reduced latency, improved multitasking on large-screen devices with drag and drop support for multitasking, and better palm rejection when using styluses.

Google’s announcement doesn’t specify exactly which Pixel devices will receive the Android 13 update today, but beta versions of the software have been available on everything from the Pixel 4 through to the recently released Pixel 6A. The Android update will be coming to devices from other manufacturers including Samsung, Oppo, OnePlus, HMD, Motorola, Realme, Sony, Xiaomi, and Asus “later this year,” Google’s Sameer Samat writes in today’s announcement post. For more details on the changes arriving in the update, check out Google’s post.