Android 13 Pixel update starts widely rolling out in the US

Abner Li | Aug 19 2022 - 11:42 am PT

Google launched and started rolling out the latest version of its mobile operating system on Monday. As of Friday afternoon, many Pixel owners in the US are getting the Android 13 update.

Around noon (PT) on Monday, Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and 6a devices enrolled in the Android Beta Program received a 32~MB OTA to go from Beta 4.1 to the stable release of Android 13. Pixel 4-5a phones on the Beta Program received the OTA towards the middle of the week.

On Friday morning, Pixel owners in the US can pull down Android 13 via the “Check for update” button in Settings > System > System update. For the Pixel 6 Pro, the update is 1.02GB and it’s 876MB on the Pixel 5. We’ve personally checked and received across three devices in the stable channel this morning.

Other people are reporting the same thing across a variety of carriers in the US, though the international launch does not appear to have occurred yet.

The Android 13 tagline is “More personalized, private, and designed to work across devices,” and Google’s abbreviated changelog highlights five features:

Expanded themed app icons to match your phone’s wallpaper colors
An updated media player with album artwork and a fun playback bar
Assign different language settings to individual apps
More control over when apps can send you notifications
Stream your messaging apps directly to your Chromebook

Google also has a list of 150 fixes, while it’s interesting that Google is also highlighting message app streaming to Chromebooks ahead of its launch later this year.