Android 14 Beta 4 arrives as stable release nears
Google's Android 14 beta program is nearing its end, with July being the last month in the development timeline ahead of a potential stable release in August. What started five months ago with the first developer preview has evolved into a fairly polished build after countless bugs were squashed. Now, Android 14 Beta 4 has arrived with its own hefty list of bug fixes.
We thought we might see this update on Wednesday, July 5, but apparently the holiday delayed things a bit, as Google only today announced the new build for eligible Pixel devices beginning with the Pixel 4a 5G. As Mishaal Rahman noted on Twitter, the new version first showed up as a generic system image (GSI) on Google's DSU Loader utility, but has since become available for phones and tablets.
Today's update carries a build number of UPB4.230623.005 along with the July security patches, and users are reporting a download size of roughly 200MB, depending on the device. That adds up, as Google has shared a massive list of bug fixes in its release notes.
Developer-reported issues Fixed a system issue that caused both notifications to stop appearing and Quick Settings tiles to stop working until the device was restarted. (Issue #287756395, Issue #286542217, Issue #286556831, Issue #286739130, Issue #290217714)
Fixed system issues that sometimes caused VoIP apps to stop recording audio when the screen was locked or the app was put in the background. (Issue #286703227, Issue #286927629, Issue #286917690, Issue #287473522)
Fixed an issue where the title of the currently playing song would abruptly disappear or be replaced with other information when transitioning a device from always-on-display mode to the lockscreen. (Issue #286522735, Issue #239835302)
Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented devices from charging or allowed a device to charge but erroneously reported that there were issues with the connected charging cable or accessory. (Issue #278143400)
Fixed a system issue that sometimes caused the Android System Intelligence service to crash. (Issue #286290268) Other resolved issues Fixed an issue that caused the CredentialManager registry to fail when using more than one set of credentials.
registry to fail when using more than one set of credentials. Fixed issues where the HealthConnect API returned null pointer exceptions in some cases to calling apps.
Fixed issues that could cause boot loops and "Application not responding" messages on some devices.
Fixed an issue where some elements on the system UI didn't retheme correctly when switching between day and night modes.
Fixed a system issue that caused the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) window to be unresponsive when using an app (such as Google Maps) in PiP mode and then locking the screen and reopening the app by tapping the notification on the lock screen.
Fixed an issue where the lockscreen wallpaper was sometimes reset to a blank, black screen when setting a new wallpaper for the home screen.
Fixed issues that caused poor UI animations in the launcher.
Fixed an issue where an intent picker dialog was incorrectly shown during work profile setup, which interfered with a user completing setup successfully.
Fixed an issue that caused the rounded borders on notifications to display incorrectly.
Fixed an issue where a device could sometimes become unresponsive if eSIM was disabled.
Fixed an issue where the lock screen sometimes got stuck with a blank, black screen.
Fixed an issue with ConnectivityService that could cause a device to crash and restart in rare cases.
that could cause a device to crash and restart in rare cases. Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the system volume slider to be stuck on the screen.
Fixed issues where the titles of some Settings pages were not announced correctly and some areas within the system Settings app couldn't be accessed when TalkBack was enabled.
Fixed an issue that could cause fingerprint enrollment to fail if the device was rotated during enrollment.
Fixed an issue where connected Bluetooth devices were not ranked correctly in the system audio output switcher.
Fixed an issue where the notification shade didn't close after tapping a notification to launch an intent. Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the analog clock to fail to display when viewing wallpaper preview.
Fixed an issue that sometimes caused only a right-side Bluetooth earbud to be paired.
Fixed issues that prevented app launch animations from playing correctly.
Fixed an issue where notifications from a prioritized conversation were erroneously dismissed when the group of non-prioritized notifications was dismissed.
Fixed an issue where the sharesheet sometimes crashed after pressing the copy button.
Fixed an issue where the UI didn't return to the sharesheet workflow if a user edited an image from the sharesheet.
Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Face Unlock to fail.
Fixed an issue that sometimes caused a USB headset to consume additional power when connected to a device that was making a call using Voice over LTE (VoLTE).
Fixed a null pointer exception that sometimes caused the launcher to crash after launching an app.
Fixed an issue where, when using a device with a work profile, the Google Play Store app in the work profile would hang or crash when launched.
Fixed various issues that caused the system UI to crash in some cases.
Fixed other various issues that were impacting system stability.
Of note, this is the first beta build to be made publicly available to Google's new Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet devices. Like any other Pixel, users only need to enroll in the beta program to start receiving prerelease updates.
This is likely the second to last beta build of Android 14 if past release cycles are anything to go by. Google released Beta 3 in the first week of June, then came back a week later with a quick bug fix in Beta 3.1 that bumped the security patch level up to June 2023. Last year's Android 13 Beta 4 also went live in early July, then was followed by a Beta 4.1 release in late July before the stable version went public in August. We appear to be on a similar trajectory now.
Users have reported that the update has started rolling out, but we've learned from recent releases that it may take a week or more to reach everyone, depending on your device and carrier. If you want to speed things up, you can use Android Flash Tool to sideload the OTA or flash the factory images in about 15 minutes.
Source: Android Police
