Google scraps Android TV 13, releases Android TV 14 beta
Android runs on a vast majority of devices with varying form factors. Besides smartphones, tablets, cars, and watches, the OS also powers the best Android TV boxes and televisions. In May 2022, Google dropped the first beta of Android TV 13, which back then was based on the latest upcoming version of Android. The final build of the OS was released in December, a few months after Android 13's public release. Following a similar pattern, the company has silently launched the first beta of Android TV 14 alongside Android 14 beta 3, which dropped with the finalized APIs.
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For now, Google has only made emulator builds of Android TV 14 available for download. The company is yet to publish the developer or user-facing changes along with the ADT-3 images.
As a code change reveals, the company is retiring Android TV 13 altogether. It will also show the OS as being unsupported in the upcoming build of Android Studio Canary, thereby discouraging "developers from creating a T images if not required."
9to5Google reports that Google has seemingly decided to stop working on the Android TV 13 update for all Android TV and Google TV-powered televisions, including Chromecasts. Once the platform reaches stability, all existing devices could be directly upgraded to the upcoming Android TV release. Google has already informed its partners about this change and won't certify builds based on Android TV 13 going forward.
Mishaal Rahman spotted a major change in Android TV 14 that lets you receive call notifications from supported apps directly on your TV.
Android TV 13 primarily focused on under-the-hood changes with new APIs and accessibility options. Android TV 14 could pack some major changes and features. Here's hoping that Google and its partners will quickly roll out the update to their devices once the OS is released to the public.
Source: Android Police
