During the I/O 2023 keynote, Google surprisingly did not spend much time talking about Android 14 beyond lockscreen clocks and shortcuts. However, there are still a number of announcements across the various sessions.
Ultra HDR
After the last version added support for HDR video, HDR image support is coming in Android 14 and will offer more realistic stills thanks to a greater range of brightness, colors, and contrast. This will be known as the “Ultra HDR” format, which is backward compatible with JPEG.
Pictures taken with it can be saved in the original 10-bit high dynamic range and then viewed as such on premium devices when Android 14 rolls out. Google expects it to be the default format on both the built-in camera app and any in-app camera views. Google Photos will support Ultra HDR for display, backup, editing, sharing, and downloading.
The Android team is working with Qualcomm and others to optimize hardware capabilities, along with a collaboration with Chrome to make Ultra HDR available on other form factors.
Privacy & security
On the security and privacy front, there’s the ability to only grant apps partial/select media access, while permissions prompts will require developers to explain when and why location data is being shared with third-party companies.
Similarly, users will get monthly “Data sharing updates for location” round-ups.
One of the more user-facing capabilities in this tentpole is partial screen sharing, which allows you to decide between single-app or whole-screen captures.
Similarly, Health Connect is now built into Android via Google Play System updates instead of being an app in the Play Store. In terms of new features:
We’re launching support for exercise routes in Health Connect, allowing users to share a route of their workout which can be visualized on a map. A route is defined as a list of locations saved within a window of time, and your app can insert routes into exercise sessions, tying them together. To ensure that users have complete control over this sensitive data, users must allow sharing individual routes with other apps.
Material You + design
On the design front, Monochrome is a new black-and-white theme in Android 14. Color fidelity lets Dynamic Color get more vibrant with the ability to generate a wider range of colors.
Materials You is also getting a high-contrast mode theme and a medium-contrast theme.
Lastly, content-based dynamic color lets buttons and other components adapt to an image shown on the screen. For example, a Now Playing page that changes color based on the current song’s album art.
Work on Predictive Back continues, and Beta 2 allows it to be set on a per-Activity basis (instead of for the entire app), allowing developers to start updating key screens/UIs. There are also new Material Component Predictive Back animations for Bottom sheets, Side sheets, and Search.
Android 14 updates the share sheet with custom app actions defined by developers, while an updated Preview UI adds support for video thumbnails and multiple images via a carousel. Lastly, direct share targets can be better ranked.
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