Here’s what the Android Q Beta 2 patch fixes (and breaks)

For a second beta update, Android Q Beta 2 brought a shocking number of impactful changes for Google’s next release. Today, the company has released a patch update for that version which fixes a few glaring problems from the update. Here’s everything we’ve found that the Android Q Beta 2 patch fixes. We’ll continuously update this post, and drop comments to let us know if you’ve found anything.

Of course, this patch is still part of an early beta for Android Q. If you were hoping it would make this daily driver material, it doesn’t really seem to. The revised gesture navigation is still incredibly buggy, for example. The OTA update also still comes with the same lengthy warning that arrived with the first Beta 2 release.

Google Photos works properly now

Our own Kyle Bradshaw notes that the Photos app is working better now. He says that when taking pictures, the Photos app now actually shows the pictures he’s just taken. Previously, Photos required users to manually alter the app’s permissions in order to get this working correctly. With the Android Q Beta 2 patch, this is done automatically. Other users note that the app no longer asks to back up after taking every new photo.

Scoped Storage Fixes

Relating to the Google Photos issue, it seems that this patch also focuses on fixing issues relating to Scoped Storage. The major storage permission changes Google made in this most recent beta caused a lot of headaches with various applications. Thankfully, this patch seems to resolve things a fair bit. Users note that sharing media files and downloads via Google Chrome seem to work better this time around. Notably, the most recent Files update also helped to fix these problems too.

Permissions should no longer reset after a reboot

One headache in the previous Beta 2 release was that a reboot would break permissions often. Google says in the patch’s release notes that this issue should be resolved now.

Permissions managed through Settings should now function normally after app re-installation or device reboot, including permissions for Unknown Sources and others. We’ve fixed the app ops issue that was causing the permissions to be reset.

Less apps should crash on startup

Another thing Google explicitly calls out in its changelog relates to how Android Q treated apps at startup. A now-modified behavior was causing apps to crash as soon as the phone first turned on, but they should now be functioning normally as Google adjusted the related behavior to only affect apps targeting API 26 or higher.

Apps that were crashing on startup because of issues with execute-only memory should now function normally. We’ve modified the associated Android Q behavior change so that it now applies only to apps targeting Android Q or higher, rather than to apps targeting API 26 or higher.

Google Assistant is broken for some users

There are some fixes in this update, but also some new things that have broken. Some users report that Google Assistant isn’t working with a long-press of the home button or the Pixel’s “Active Edge” feature. Luckily, there’s an easy fix. Head to Settings > Apps & Notifications > Default Apps > Assist & Voice Input > Google to restore the functionality.

Updating…