Google has launched the first public beta of Android 17, which includes greater performance optimisations, smoother system animations, and optimised notification management. The upgrade includes tighter privacy and permission settings, improved scaling for large-screen devices, and a transition from Developer Preview to a continuous Canary channel for developer-focused updates.
According to the official blog article, Google has released the first beta of Android 17, which focuses on making the system more private, secure, and fast. This version adds better camera and media functionality, tools to improve connectivity, and bigger profiles for partner devices. It also indicates a change in how developers get new updates, switching from the old Developer Preview to the Android Canary programme.
In This Article
Performance
Android 17 adds a lock-free version of android.os.MessageQueue to enhance efficiency and cut down on missed frames. However, this could cause problems for clients who depend on reflection. It also has generational garbage collection in ART’s Concurrent Mark-Compact collector, which makes memory management more efficient. The runtime now makes “static final” fields truly immutable; thus, trying to change them using reflection will throw an IllegalAccessException. Also, there are now limits on the sizes of custom notification views to help apps that target SDK 37 and higher use less RAM. New ProfilingManager triggers have been introduced to help with troubleshooting performance.
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Media and Camera
Android 17 improves the media and photography features with professional-grade tools that make transitions smooth and keep the volume level the same. One of the most important changes is the addition of `updateOutputConfigurations()` to `CameraCaptureSession`, which lets you attach and detach output surfaces. This function makes it easy to switch between camera modes without having to reconfigure anything. The update also adds the LOGICAL_MULTI_CAMERA_ADDITIONAL_RESULTS value, which lets you get metadata from all active physical cameras when you use logical camera setups. This makes camera apps use their resources more efficiently.
Versatile Video Coding (VVC) Support
Android 17 adds support for the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard by defining the video/vvc MIME type in MediaFormat and adding new profiles in MediaCodecInfo. These will be available on devices with hardware that works with them. It also has a new constant quality option for video encoders that can be configured by setVideoEncodingQuality() in MediaRecorder. This makes it easier to regulate the quality of this feature. The audio framework also puts limits on how audio can interact with the background. This means that audio API calls will fail when the app is not in a valid lifecycle without throwing exceptions or giving failure messages. The audio focus API will return AUDIOFOCUS_REQUEST_FAILED for unauthorised requests.
Privacy and Security
The blog post talks about two important changes to Android development that have to do with privacy and security. First, apps that target Android 17 or higher should not use the android:usesCleartextTraffic attribute. If an app uses this attribute set to “true” but doesn’t have a network security configuration, it will automatically block cleartext communication. This is a warning to developers to switch to Network Security Configuration for additional control. Second, it adds a Public Service Provider Interface (SPI) for HPKE hybrid cryptography. This lets people communicate safely using both public key and symmetric encryption methods (AEAD).
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Connectivity and Telecom
Improvements in connectivity and telecom include managing user preferences for VoIP call history, adding support for caller and participant avatars, and making privacy controls and visual displays better. Wi-Fi Ranging now has proximity detection for constant ranging and safe peer-to-peer discovery, as well as new APIs for peer handles and PMKID caching. The CompanionDeviceManager adds additional profiles for medical devices and fitness trackers to developer tools. This makes permissions easier to understand and improves the user experience by giving each app its own icon. It also has a single dialogue for linking devices and asking for permissions, which makes the process of interacting with users more efficient.
