After being stuck on the July 2023 Google Play System Update for so long, the January 2024 GPSU is finally rolling out for Samsung Galaxy devices like the Galaxy S24!

Meanwhile, the February 2024 GPSU is slowly rolling out for some Pixel users.

Neither the January nor the February 2024 GPSU has any really interesting changes, but the March 2024 GPSU will have a pretty significant change. More on that soon 👀

(Thanks to ashutosh28 on Twitter for the tip!)

Google is planning to push an update to Android phones that could dramatically improve AV1 video playback on budget devices. The March 2024 Play System Update may swap Google's libgav1 codec with VideoLAN's libdav1d codec.

You can read more about why this matters over on Android Authority.

Edit: A VLC for Android developer told me that the version of VLC I used back in November 2023 during testing actually shipped about a year old version of libvlc at the time of release. Plus, as the VideoLAN Twitter account points out, libdav1d 1.4.1 is coming soon which boosts AV1 decode performance even further!

So we're about to see an even bigger AV1 decode performance gain on many devices than I previously thought once this change rolls out!

If you develop a watch face for Wear OS, heads up: Upcoming releases of Wear OS may require you to use the Watch Face Format (WFF) in order to "show data from most data sources in watch face complications."

In future releases, watch faces built on the legacy Jetpack Watch Face library or the Wearable Support Library will only be able to show basic data like the battery level, unread notification count, time, date, and an app shortcut.

Google sent an email to developers yesterday (h/t 9to5Google) which leads to the above snippet in the developer docs.

Watch face developers on Reddit point out that some features unique to legacy watch faces, like certain in-app features or complex animations, don't translate to the new WFF.

If I had to guess why Google is doing this, my bet is that this has to do with supporting the new hybrid OS interface that Google announced a few days ago. Watch faces built on the WFF are rendered on the ultra low-power MCU instead of the AP. It makes sense that heavily customized watch faces can't easily be made to operate on the MCU which runs an entirely different OS. Google wants to standardize watch faces so users don't have to worry about whether a watch face will heavily limit their smartwatch's battery life.

Google TV is starting to roll out a revamped home screen with circular app icons. This rollout is starting today and will be coming to all Google TV devices over the next few months.

This follows Google's announcement in November that developers submitting apps for distribution on Google TV would be required to provide a square app icon asset in addition to a banner logo (more details on this requirement in the post linked above).

Alongside circular app icons, the Google TV home screen is also adding a shortcut to free TV channels in the "Your apps" row, getting an increased number of app icons in the "Your apps" row, and new "reorder" and "add apps" buttons at the end of the row.

Here's everything you need to know about the new Wear OS hybrid interface on the OnePlus Watch 2, including an explanation of how this feature might make its way to other watches. Thanks to Björn Kilburn, VP of Wear OS at Google, for doing an interview!

You can read the full article over at Android Police.

Apparently, Android 14's "headphone loud sound alerts" feature is only fully enabled started with the QPR1 release in December 2023.

Since this feature is only fully implemented in Android 14 QPR1, that means we likely won't see it appear on OEM devices (who don't already have their own implementation like Samsung) until Android 15.

As I mentioned in my article for Android Police, this feature monitors sound doses over time to protect users from the damaging effects of excessive or prolonged sound exposure. This feature conforms to the regulatory requirements mentioned in IEC62368-1 3rd edition and EN50332-3.

Here's Google's documentation for AOSP developers.

Heads up: Users are reporting that the Google Messages app won't let them send or receive RCS messages if the OS is rooted or hasn't passed GMS certification (like most custom ROMs).

It seems that Google Messages has implemented Play Integrity API attestation checks, so be aware if you root your device or install a custom ROM, you may lose access to RCS in Google Messages.

More discussion here.

(Video by Reddit user joefuf).

Google wants to make Android 15 more resilient to WebView crashes. They're doing this by introducing a new Project Mainline called WebViewBootstrap.

You can learn all about this project in my latest article for Android Police.

I'm excited to see how Android XR pans out, but I'm disappointed that Google and Meta can't come to an agreement on a partnership. Without knowing the exact terms they discussed, it's hard to say who's really at fault for things not working out.

You can't deny that Meta is committed wholeheartedly to XR. Meta's platform hasn't exactly been as open as they proclaim, but Google's commitment to XR is questionable. I can understand why many are taking Meta's side here.

The launch of Android XR is poised to fragment the Android on XR headset market, but whether that's Google's fault or Meta's is hard to say. Whoever you blame, Apple still wins out in the end. I don't want the future of XR to be one where you have to own Apple hardware to participate 😭

This is somewhat related to the whole Meta/Google partnership (or rather, lack thereof), but back in December, an engineer at Meta Reality Labs submitted patches to add OpenXR support into AOSP.

OpenXR, to quote, "is a royalty-free, open standard that provides high-performance access to Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)—collectively known as XR—platforms and devices."

Many Android-based VR headsets already support OpenXR loaders, but according to one dev I've spoken to, it's a bit of a fragmented mess right now where different headsets may have slightly different OpenXR loaders. This makes it difficult to create a single APK that works between multiple headsets.

By adding OpenXR support to AOSP, apps could target a common library and the loader would just load whatever driver is provided by the vendor.

It took over a month and a half for someone from Google to even respond to one of the patches, though, so it seems like this is going nowhere?

Google has published the Android Security Bulletin (ASB) for March 2024, detailing the vulnerabilities addressed in the 2024-03-0X security patch level (SPL). Patches are available for Android 12-14. Android 11 is no longer receiving security patch backports.

This month, there's 1 RCE and 1 EoP vulnerability in AOSP's Bluetooth stack with a severity rating of "critical". There are no security issues addressed by Google Play System Updates this month.

Also, Android 14 QPR2 will be released later today, so stay tuned for that!

The March 2024 Pixel Feature Drop is here, bringing new features to Pixel phones, the Pixel Tablet, and the first-gen Pixel Watch. Here’s what’s new:

Pixel phones:

1) Circle to Search is coming to the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro! This was previously exclusive to the Galaxy S24 series and the Pixel 8 series.

2) Next-gen Call Screen (Pixel 6 and newer) is adding a “hello” chip that gets the Google Assistant to prompt the caller to speak. This can be useful if the caller is silent. If you aren’t available, the Assistant will let the caller know to wait.

3) You can now share Ultra HDR photos to Instagram or 10-bit HDR videos to Reels from your Pixel phone (Pixel 7, 7 Pro, 8, 8 Pro, and Fold)!

Pixel Tablet:

1) Gboard’s new Voice Toolbar for tablets minimizes the digital keyboard when voice input is activated in order to optimize screen space.

Pixel phones and Pixel Tablet:

1) Android’s Connected Devices settings page now lets you access Bluetooth accessories you previously set up through Fast Pair (Pixel 5a and later)..

2) Google Docs Markups lets you add handwritten annotations to a document using only your finger or stylus. (This was announced last week at MWC 2024 and is available on any device running Android 8.0+).

Pixel Watch:

1) First-gen Pixel Watch is finally getting automatic workout detection! This works for running, walking, elliptical, spinning, outdoor biking, treadmill, and rowing.

2) You can now set a goal pace during an exercise with your first-gen Pixel Watch. This lets you know when you’re within your target and get notifications for when you fall outside of it.

3) You can now track the time you spend in each heart rate zone to optimize and guide your training on your first-gen Pixel Watch, and you can set up notifications to alert you when you move between zones.

4) Fitbit Relax App now guides you through breathing exercises to help you relax.

The update also brings Android 14 QPR2 with the March 2024 security patches. QPR2 introduces several new Android features including an expandable Bluetooth QS tile, faster seamless updates, partial screen recording and screen casting, a search bar in the taskbar’s app drawer, a revamped privacy indicator dialog, a new shortcut to share your Wi-Fi network, and other minor changes.

Android's first trunk stable release is dropping today! If you build AOSP, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on all the build changes once Google uploads the source code for Android 14 QPR2.