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A big day is here for your Google Pixel phone and Android 13 – we’ve reached the platform stability stage of this development cycle. Android 13 Beta 3 is here and things are looking good.
For this Beta 3 build, which is available on the Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, and Pixel 6 lines, all of the app-facing behaviors and APIs are final. For developers, that means getting apps ready for launch while knowing that nothing should really change going forward. For you, the non-developer, this just means that we also won’t see many changes going forward from a feature or UI change standpoint.
Want to get Android 13 Beta 3 on your device? Let’s do that.
How to download Android 13 Beta 3 on your Pixel
Android 13 Beta 3 is available on the following devices:
- Pixel 4 and 4 XL
- Pixel 4a and 4a (5G)
- Pixel 5 and 5a
- Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
Easiest way: If you own one of those devices, the easiest way to get Android 13 Beta 3 on device is to sign-up for the Android Beta Program (here). You’ll simply click the “Opt In” button on that page to join and then sit back and wait for Google to push an update as Android 13 over-the-air.
Once you have enrolled, you’ll head into Settings>System>Advanced>System update to check for it. Google may not push it immediately and could instead roll it out slowly throughout the day. Either way, feel free to check through there to tell Google you want it after enrolling in the program.
Manual way: Want to get updated faster or would rather flash a factory image or OTA file through adb to feel more techie and important and smart? That’s still an option! I’ll be going the OTA route, but factory images are available too. You’ll find Android 13 Beta 3 factory images here and the OTA files here. For instructions on how to flash a factory image, here you go. For instructions on how to flash an OTA .zip file, here you go.
Already on an Android 13 Beta 2 build: If you are already on an Android 13 Beta build, Google says that you will receive the Beta 2 update over-the-air. Of course, you can manually flash a factory image or OTA file as well, since the over-the-air process often takes forever to process.
What’s new in Android 13 Beta 3?
We’re diving in now to see what’s new, but Google describes new goodies as follows:
“There’s a lot to explore in Android 13, from privacy features like the new notification permission and photo picker, to productivity features like themed app icons and per-app language support, as well as modern standards like HDR video, Bluetooth LE Audio, and MIDI 2.0 over USB.”
We’ve covered all of that stuff here, here, and here. And to be honest, there may not be much else new going forward. Once we hit Beta builds (and this is our third), Google doesn’t change much. It’s looking like Android 13 is a solid bug fixer from the big changes that were introduced in Android 12, and that’s completely fine. We love polish and stability. Let’s hope Android 13 gives that to us.
Should we see enough stuff to highlight, we’ll work on a separate post. Stay tuned.
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