Google has published the Android Security Bulletin for October 2023, detailing the vulnerabilities addressed in the 2023-10-0X security patch levels.
As I previously reported, there's a 2023-10-06 SPL that signifies builds that are patched against that recent critical WebP 0-day vulnerability (CVE-2023-4863).
As I previously reported, there's a 2023-10-06 SPL that signifies builds that are patched against that recent critical WebP 0-day vulnerability (CVE-2023-4863).
❤32👍20
Mishaal's Android News Feed
Google is rolling out an update to the Pixel Buds Pro app that prepares for the buds' new Conversation Detection, Hearing Wellness, and Clearer Calls features. Conversation Detection: Automatically switch to Transparency and pause media when you talk. Hearing…
Kamila has more details on what's new in the Pixel Buds Pro's v5.9 update in this thread.
She got the firmware update on her Buds Pro, showing off the new conversation detection, hearing wellness, and also low-latency gaming mode features!
Also, apparently, there'll be a new Pixel Buds Pro companion app for Chromebooks.
She got the firmware update on her Buds Pro, showing off the new conversation detection, hearing wellness, and also low-latency gaming mode features!
Also, apparently, there'll be a new Pixel Buds Pro companion app for Chromebooks.
X (formerly Twitter)
kamila 🌸🏳️⚧️ (@Za_Raczke) on X
Google is releasing a new update for the Pixel Buds Pro and thanks to nobody but myself, I got an early access to the new firmware as well as a marketing brief explaining the new features: let's take a look!
👍25❤7
According to an Android OS upgrade schedule published by Canadian carrier Telus, the Pixel 4a 5G and later will be getting the Android 14 update on Wednesday, October 4th.
Note that although Telus says the Pixel 4a will also be getting the update, that's likely just a mistake. The Pixel 4a will likely not be getting the update; it wasn't even part of the beta.
This date should not come as too much of a surprise since I first mentioned it as a possible candidate nearly a month back. Though, I only mentioned it in context of the source code release to AOSP, and I wasn't sure if the Pixel's stable update would also roll out the same day.
(H/T Reddit user blanco2701. Screenshot via Telegram user @azzaazzaazza.)
Note that although Telus says the Pixel 4a will also be getting the update, that's likely just a mistake. The Pixel 4a will likely not be getting the update; it wasn't even part of the beta.
This date should not come as too much of a surprise since I first mentioned it as a possible candidate nearly a month back. Though, I only mentioned it in context of the source code release to AOSP, and I wasn't sure if the Pixel's stable update would also roll out the same day.
(H/T Reddit user blanco2701. Screenshot via Telegram user @azzaazzaazza.)
👍32❤9🔥4
The Android Management API has finally added support for Lost Mode for company-owned devices.
Google first announced Lost Mode back in September 2022 as a new enterprise feature in Android 13, but the feature was said to be "coming soon". With the August 2023 update to the Android Management API, though, Lost Mode support has been added.
"
Lost mode supports work profiles on Android 13+ and fully managed devices on Android 11+. Google recommends remotely wiping the device if it hasn't been recovered within 24 hours of activating lost mode.
Google first announced Lost Mode back in September 2022 as a new enterprise feature in Android 13, but the feature was said to be "coming soon". With the August 2023 update to the Android Management API, though, Lost Mode support has been added.
"
Lost mode is a feature available on company-owned devices, allowing employers to remotely lock and secure a lost device and optionally to display a message on the device screen with contact information for the employee or IT department. This helps protect organization and employee data while attempting to recover the device, and may improve the likelihood of recovery."Lost mode supports work profiles on Android 13+ and fully managed devices on Android 11+. Google recommends remotely wiping the device if it hasn't been recovered within 24 hours of activating lost mode.
👍62🔥9👏9🥱3
Google Play Games Services has added a new "Recall API" that "lets games manage links between PGS users and their in-game accounts by storing recall tokens with Google servers".
This makes it easier for games with their own identity systems to restore a user's progress on a new device signed into the same Play Games account used on their other devices that have previously played the game.
eg.
1) A user started playing a game on another device. This game has its own identity system to track user progress, and it also supports PGS for authentication.
2) Through the Recall API, the game sends a recall token to Google that corresponds to the user's in-game account. Google stores that recall token against the user's PGS account.
3) The user tries to play the game on another device, like on Google Play Games on PC, while signed into their PGS account. The game server queries Google to see if there are any recall tokens, and since there are, Google sends it back which the server then uses to find the user's in-game account.
This makes it easier for games with their own identity systems to restore a user's progress on a new device signed into the same Play Games account used on their other devices that have previously played the game.
eg.
1) A user started playing a game on another device. This game has its own identity system to track user progress, and it also supports PGS for authentication.
2) Through the Recall API, the game sends a recall token to Google that corresponds to the user's in-game account. Google stores that recall token against the user's PGS account.
3) The user tries to play the game on another device, like on Google Play Games on PC, while signed into their PGS account. The game server queries Google to see if there are any recall tokens, and since there are, Google sends it back which the server then uses to find the user's in-game account.
👍40❤10
Welcome to my channel!
I'll be posting about anything Android OS related that's new or interesting to me. With a few exceptions, this channel will mirror my posts on Twitter/X, Mastodon, and Threads, so feel free to follow me on whatever platform you like!
Join the "Playground for Android nerds" group if you want to discuss my posts or chat about anything related to Android! If you want to contact me, ping me in the playground group or DM me if you need confidentiality (but please no tech support questions!)
I'd also appreciate if you can support me on Patreon or Twitter, as it takes a lot of work to dig through Android! You can find links to my other platforms on Linktree.
(Thanks to Cătălin for making the channel logo!)
I'll be posting about anything Android OS related that's new or interesting to me. With a few exceptions, this channel will mirror my posts on Twitter/X, Mastodon, and Threads, so feel free to follow me on whatever platform you like!
Join the "Playground for Android nerds" group if you want to discuss my posts or chat about anything related to Android! If you want to contact me, ping me in the playground group or DM me if you need confidentiality (but please no tech support questions!)
I'd also appreciate if you can support me on Patreon or Twitter, as it takes a lot of work to dig through Android! You can find links to my other platforms on Linktree.
(Thanks to Cătălin for making the channel logo!)
👍82❤24🤓12❤🔥5🤡4👎1
So Linus from Linus Tech Tips just posted a video about how he's looking for a new phone after he dropped his current one in the pool (RIP), and he brings up how Sony's Android OS is great except for the fact that the back button is on the left side.
Fortunately, Sony's working on fixing this.
If you aren't aware, the 3-button navigation by default has the back button on the left, the home button in the middle, and the recents button on the right. This is the default AOSP placement and is what you get on Google and Sony phones (among others).
Samsung and a few others like Xiaomi swap the position of the back and recents buttons so that the back button is on the right by default (but you can swap them back if you want). Honestly, I can see why Linus is put off by the thought of switching to a Sony device, having built up years of muscle memory around the back button being on the right.
Back in January, an engineer for Sony submitted patches to AOSP that allow for swapping the position of the back and recent buttons. The patches went dormant for months; there were some merge conflicts with SystemUI and a Googler didn't like the setting was going to be exposed to users by default (it's now controlled by a config flag that the OEM can override).
Last week, though, a Google code reviewer gave a +2 to it, so there's a chance interest in it has been revived and it could be merged to AOSP. If it does, we could see it land in an Android 14 QPR or Android 15. After seeing Linus' complaint, I definitely think this feature should be standard. Sony could add this in before it gets merged to AOSP, but a user with an Xperia 1 V tells me there's no such feature right now on their device.
(Ignore the title of the patches which says it adds support for swapping recent and home button positions; the code shows it's actually for swapping recent and back button positions.)
Fortunately, Sony's working on fixing this.
If you aren't aware, the 3-button navigation by default has the back button on the left, the home button in the middle, and the recents button on the right. This is the default AOSP placement and is what you get on Google and Sony phones (among others).
Samsung and a few others like Xiaomi swap the position of the back and recents buttons so that the back button is on the right by default (but you can swap them back if you want). Honestly, I can see why Linus is put off by the thought of switching to a Sony device, having built up years of muscle memory around the back button being on the right.
Back in January, an engineer for Sony submitted patches to AOSP that allow for swapping the position of the back and recent buttons. The patches went dormant for months; there were some merge conflicts with SystemUI and a Googler didn't like the setting was going to be exposed to users by default (it's now controlled by a config flag that the OEM can override).
Last week, though, a Google code reviewer gave a +2 to it, so there's a chance interest in it has been revived and it could be merged to AOSP. If it does, we could see it land in an Android 14 QPR or Android 15. After seeing Linus' complaint, I definitely think this feature should be standard. Sony could add this in before it gets merged to AOSP, but a user with an Xperia 1 V tells me there's no such feature right now on their device.
(Ignore the title of the patches which says it adds support for swapping recent and home button positions; the code shows it's actually for swapping recent and back button positions.)
👍69🤔7👎3🔥3❤1👌1
Android 14 is HERE! (Told y’all it’d be today😉) Google is uploading the Android 14 source code to AOSP. Once the code is uploaded, I'll dig through it to see if there's any interesting features or changes I missed. If you find anything yourself, send me a tip!
Android 14 is rolling out to the Pixel 4a 5G and later starting today and will be available later this year for devices from Samsung, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
Read more at Esper.io.
Android 14 is rolling out to the Pixel 4a 5G and later starting today and will be available later this year for devices from Samsung, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
Read more at Esper.io.
🔥81❤10👍9🫡2😁1
Android 14 is rolling out for the Pixel 4a 5G and later starting TODAY! The update brings more customization, control, and accessibility features.
If you haven’t been on the beta and want to know what new features are in Android 14, I wrote a summary over on Reddit that I recommend you check out!
If you haven’t been on the beta and want to know what new features are in Android 14, I wrote a summary over on Reddit that I recommend you check out!
👍56🔥10❤🔥9🥰1
What’s new in Android 14 for app developers? A lot of things, actually. If you haven’t been keeping up with my posts, I wrote a summary on Reddit of some of the more impactful Android 14 changes.
❤37👍10👏4
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
The Pixel 8’s generative AI wallpaper feature is SO COOL!
You can create brand new wallpapers that nobody else has ever seen just by choosing a few topics and colors from some preset options. While you can’t go wild with custom prompts, you still have a ton of choice!
After you create and apply a wallpaper, it’s saved to your device so you can change to it at any time. You can also tap the pencil icon to modify the prompt used to generate it.
The wallpapers you generate have metadata added to them that lists the AI wallpaper version, the prompt used to generate it, the transform matrix, and a “credit” line that says “AI-generated with Google.”
Under the hood, Google’s generative AI wallpaper app uses an AI-generated text-to-image diffusion model to create wallpapers. (I believe at one point it used Parti, but that may have changed.) All the processing is done server-side, so it takes a few seconds for it to work.
The generative AI wallpaper feature is coming first to the Pixel 8. Since it works entirely server-side, there’s no reason it can’t come to other Pixels in a future update, like the upcoming December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop. (It’s being tested on the Pixel 6 & Pixel 7, in fact.)
You can create brand new wallpapers that nobody else has ever seen just by choosing a few topics and colors from some preset options. While you can’t go wild with custom prompts, you still have a ton of choice!
After you create and apply a wallpaper, it’s saved to your device so you can change to it at any time. You can also tap the pencil icon to modify the prompt used to generate it.
The wallpapers you generate have metadata added to them that lists the AI wallpaper version, the prompt used to generate it, the transform matrix, and a “credit” line that says “AI-generated with Google.”
Under the hood, Google’s generative AI wallpaper app uses an AI-generated text-to-image diffusion model to create wallpapers. (I believe at one point it used Parti, but that may have changed.) All the processing is done server-side, so it takes a few seconds for it to work.
The generative AI wallpaper feature is coming first to the Pixel 8. Since it works entirely server-side, there’s no reason it can’t come to other Pixels in a future update, like the upcoming December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop. (It’s being tested on the Pixel 6 & Pixel 7, in fact.)
👍57🔥32❤11
Here are some of the wallpapers I’ve made using the Pixel 8’s generative AI wallpaper feature:
Patreon/X subscribers can get all 38 wallpapers I made. There are some really cool designs in there!
Patreon/X subscribers can get all 38 wallpapers I made. There are some really cool designs in there!
🤯56👍13🥰8🤡8🤔1🫡1