Android 11 Release and Developer Updates
In a “normal” year, usually in the beginning of May, Google presents their newest Android version in Beta at Google I/O in California. After collecting user feedback, they roll out the stable version in Autumn of the same year. However, given the circumstances, Google cancelled the Google I/O event and went for an “Android 11 Beta Launch Show” instead.
This launch show included the beta release of the newest version of Android, as well as talks explaining the new shiny features for developers - very similar to the regular conference in previous years. Anyway; let’s get into what’s new & exciting from a user and developer perspective.
In this blog post I would like to:
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Inform you when the official release of Android 11 on the market can be expected
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Give you an overview of the new functionalities coming with Android 11
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Show you how to test Android 11 apps with our app distribution tool Updraft
Official Release of Android 11
Looking back on the past years and the re-release of the new Android versions, we assume that Android will be publicly released anytime between mid-September and October this year (there may be a delay because of covid-19). Android 11 will be the 18th version of the Android mobile operating system. Every early adopter can register for testing the first Android 11 beta version.
To get the Android 11 beta you just need to do the following steps:
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If you have a physical Pixel device, you can just enroll in the Android Beta programme and you can download the latest version.
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You can configure your Android Emulator inside Android Studio with the Android 11 beta version. Just follow the steps described here.
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Or you can test it on Android GSI (Generic System Images)
The Following Features will be new with Android 11
What’s worth saying upfront; Android got into a more mature state in the last few years and we don’t get to see these major design/feature refreshes that we got back in the Lollipop-days. I do miss these big overhauls but all in all it’s great to see that Android evolved. The new Android Operating System focuses on 3 topics: People, Controls, Privacy.
We won't go into all the functionalities of these focus topics but present you with the changes that are most important to us.
People - Voice Access
With Android 11 Google continues to focus on the enduser experience and prioritizes efficient interactions to simplify the user’s life.
In terms of accessibility, Google updated their “Voice Access” app for Android 11 and it works astonishingly well. With that, users can navigate through their phone hands-free. There’s a great demo of this feature by Marques Brownlee (aka. MKBHD) available here.
Of course we also tested the updated "Voice Access" feature on one of our own apps (developed by Apps with love). Here is a demo of the feature with the ready #teamarmee app.
Controls - Media Controls
With controls, Android 11 enables us to control all our smart devices more efficiently. There are new persistent media controls available in the quick settings that quickly let the users swipe through available media (such as Spotify, YouTube, …) and change speakers for each media.
Privacy - Pay Attention to Permissions
With Android 11 users will have even more possibilities to protect their data on Android devices and manage the permissions on individual apps. From a testing perspective, the announced changes can have an impact on the user experience.
I would like to briefly summarize the most important privacy changes coming with Android 11. Of course you can find this in detail here.
One Time Permissions
With Android 11 you will have the possibility to grant a one-time permission to access for example the app's camera, __cpLocation or microphone. This message will be called 'Only this time'. If you use a function again that requires access to the device, Android will ask for permission again.
Auto-Reset Permissions from Unused Apps
If you don't need an app for a longer period of time (several months), Android 11 automatically resets all permissions you have given the app to protect sensitive data. This has the same effect as if you would call up your app via the Android System Settings and deactivate the permissions there. The next time you start the app all accesses to your device will have to be requested again.
Background Location
New with Android 11 the user of the app must be asked explicitly if the app is allowed to use the user's __cpLocation even if the app is in the background. The developer must be aware that the __cpLocation determination in the background may only be used if sense and purpose is clearly communicated to the user and the use of the __cpLocation is one of the main functionalities of the app. This change will only become necessary for all apps during 2021.
More Android 11 Features and News to Explore
There is a lot more to explore about Android 11 and its benefits for developers on the official site: https://developer.android.com/android11. If interested, make sure to check it out and especially have a look at the talks that they uploaded.
Also check the following documentation from Google. Here you will find a list of all the changes that will affect all previously published apps.
A New Google Play Console
In terms of new features for developers, there is one exciting one: A redesigned Google Play Console that should hopefully improve & clarify the release process of your apps. It’s currently available in public beta and from what I have seen so far, it looks more clean and definitely fits towards their new design system that was already introduced to Gmail, Google Docs & co. Especially interesting is that they now support “Managed Publishing” that allows developers to send apps to review, but wait with the publishing until manually triggered.
Android Studio 4.0 (stable), 4.1, 4.2
Google also released new versions of Android Studio, the main coding editor for Android. With 4.0 reaching stable, 4.1 in beta and 4.2 in canary, we got 3 new builds at the same time. There are a handful of new features that the new 4.X line brings to the developers that should make development easier.
Layout Inspector
An interesting feature is that the Layout Inspector now features a 3D view of the layout, making it easy to spot invisible layouts that may decrease performance.
Motion Editor
Furthermore, the new Motion Editor provides a visual way to animate layout changes. The corresponding MotionLayout was introduced before, but required the developers to create several files with a lot of code. This can now easily be handled with the Motion Editor.
App Testing
With the new Android Studio 11, testing beta apps will also become easier and more efficient.
ADB with Android 11
Now it will be possible to access a device via wireless and ADB (Android Debug Bridge) in android studio.
Easier testing with the Emulator
The Android emulator is now hosted directly in the IDE. You can run several tests at the same time, therefore you can view the results from several devices. In addition, the emulator's device manager has been improved to make it easier to manage the devices.
Test your Android 11 App with Updraft
Before you start with your tests to check if your developed Android app is compatible with Android 11 you can upload your app to Updraft.
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SignUp
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Create a new app project
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Add your Android app
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Go to the build history within Updraft
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Upload your .apk file
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Within the build history click on your uploaded android app version
Within the right field you will see the minimum supported API SDK version of your uploaded .apk, the target API SDK version and the maximum supported API SDK Version.
Android defines the SDK Version and the corresponding API Levels as the following:
‘’ android:minSdkVersion — Specifies the minimum API Level on which the application is able to run. The default value is "1".
android:targetSdkVersion — Specifies the API Level on which the application is designed to run. In some cases, this allows the application to use manifest elements or behaviors defined in the target API Level, rather than being restricted to using only those defined for the minimum API Level.
android:maxSdkVersion — Specifies the maximum API Level on which the application is able to run. Important: Please read the <uses-sdk> documentation before using this attribute. ‘’
On the Android Developer Documentation you can find more information about that topic.
At Updraft we extract this Android meta data from your uploaded .apk file and display this within the Build History dashboard.
What is the Minimum Supported OS Android Version of my App?
With Updraft you can find out which OS versions your Android app supports before you start your compatibility tests.
After you have uploaded your app to Updraft, we extract the minSdk version and the tragetSdk version from the AndroidManifest.xml of your .apk file as described above. The Android Manifest defines all the details about your app and which versions of Android your app will support.
Afterwards Updraft matches the extracted API with the Android OS version, so that you know at any time which Android OS is now compatible with your uploaded Android app.
Again, on Android Developer Documentation you will find an easy guide to test your compatibility with the newest version.
Android 11 targetSDKVersion= 30
It's not quite official yet, but the official release of Android 11 is guaranteed to get the target API level 30 (targetSDKVersion= 30).
Test your App before Distributing It
I hope I could give you a summarized overview of Android 11 news here.
With Updraft our App Distribution Tool you can not only distribute apps to your testers but you can also view important information and metadata about the uploaded apps and binaries. So you can check if your app will be compatible and which API SDK versions are supported before you distribute it to your testers. App Distribution and App Testing done right.