Android 14 Beta 3 brings new lock screen customization and other enhancements

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Google has just released the third beta of Android 14, which marks the first platform stability build. The best part is, Google expands the availability of the new update to its newest A-series smartphone – the Pixel 7a. If you own a Pixel 7a, you can finally get access to the Android 14 beta for the first time. Today’s release comes with the new lock screen customization tools and also addresses a big list of known issues.

Google is pushing the incremental beta to the Pixel phones with the UPB3.230519.008 build number. The third beta is relatively bigger than previous releases weighing around 586MB in download size. The security patch remains the same, you will receive the incremental third beta with May 2023 security patch.

android 14 beta 3

In the official announcement, the company emphasizes that today’s release further enhances core themes such as “privacy, security, performance, developer productivity, and user customization while continuing to improve the large-screen device experience on tablets, foldables, and more.”

In today’s update, one of the notable changes is the introduction of new lock screen customization tools, which were initially showcased by Google at its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2023.

android 14 beta 3

Talking about the other changes, then Google shares a big list of issues fixed in today’s update. The list includes the issue where users reported unnecessary power consumption, system stability issues, crashing of the Settings app while setting a wallpaper, GPS not working properly, Android Auto connectivity issues, and more.

  • Developer Reported Issues
    • Fixed issues that prevented Wi-Fi calling from being enabled for some devices and carriers. (Issue #277964472)
    • Fixed an issue that caused Direct My Call interactions to fail in some cases where they would normally work. (Issue #278252154)
  • Other Resolved Issues
    • Fixed system issues that caused unnecessary power consumption in some cases.
    • Fixed system stability issues that caused UI jank in some cases.
    • Fixed an issue that caused the system Settings app to crash while setting the wallpaper.
    • Fixed an issue with the system UI that could cause a GPU hang, leading to “Application Not Responding” (ANR) errors.
    • Fixed a system issue that could sometimes cause a device’s GPS services to stop working until the device was rebooted.
    • Fixed issues with the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) that could prevent devices from being able to make Wi-Fi calls in some cases.
    • Fixed an issue where a blank screen displays after selecting the “Message” option for a recent caller in the Google Phone app.
    • Fixed an issue where while 3-button navigation was enabled for a device, putting Google Maps into picture-in-picture mode made the picture-in-picture window disappear.
    • Fixed an issue where locking and unlocking a device while playing a video in the Google TV app could cause the device to freeze.
    • Fixed an issue with Android Auto where some users could be asked to re-pair Bluetooth.
    • Fixed issues with Health Connect, including the following issues and other API and system behaviors:
      • An issue where the system back button stopped working while Health Connect integration was in progress.
      • An issue where the Route Permissions screen would sometimes freeze.
      • An issue where Health Connect sometimes couldn’t be accessed in system settings.
      • An issue where the data category page of Health Connect was missing some permission types when a filter was applied.

Now if you own an eligible Pixel smartphone running on the second beta, then you can easily upgrade your Pixel smartphone to the incremental beta by navigating to the System Updates in Settings and then downloading the new beta.

If your phone is running on the Android 13 stable version and you want to try out the Android 14 beta, then you need to sign up for the Android Beta Program, see the process in this story. Make sure your phone is eligible for the Android 14, these are the eligible models – Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, or Pixel 7a.

You can also manually sideload the Android 14 beta on your Pixel phone, you can download the OTA builds for manual installation from this page.

Before updating your phone, make sure to take a backup of important data and also charge your phone to at least 50%.

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Haneet Singh

Haneet is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of YTECHB. He has a huge passion for tinkering with latest smartphones, wearables, smart home devices, smart TVs, and more. As an avid Apple Ecosystem user, he loves customizing his iPhone and iPad to suit his needs. For tips, you can connect Haneet at haneetsingh@outlook.com In 2019, Haneet and the YTECHB team exclusively shared the wallpapers of iPhone 11 right before the launch event. In 2020, Haneet alongside his team members shared exclusive renders and official photos of two Samsung Galaxy smartphones - the Galaxy M11, and Galaxy M21. Later, the YTECHB team leaks information about Motorola's feature phones and Razr 3. In the last few months, our team shared Galaxy S24 Ultra leaks and more. You may come across with our work getting mentioned in The Times of India, India Today, Hindustan Times, NDTV, TechRadar, Digital Trends, Yahoo News, GSMArena, Android Authority, Android Central, Android Headlines, SamMobile, XDA, 9to5Google, and many other publications. He works across news, updates, features, guides, and more. If YTECHB writes about it, you can expect him to be involved in some way.

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