Android 14: Everything you need to know

It’s now 2023, which means that Android 14 is just around the corner. It’s hard to believe that we are already preparing to get Android 14 from Google, for the Pixel and other Android smartphones. In this article, we’re going to round up everything you need to know about Android 14. Like when it’ll be released, what it’ll be called, what features might be included and more.

Google began the road to Android 14 on February 8, 2023 with the release of the first developer preview.

What will Android 14 be called?

This year, Android 14 will officially be called simply, Android 14. However, Google does still stick with its dessert names internally. Even thought they ditched that starting with Android 10 back in 2019. This year, Google is onto the letter U for dessert names.

• Android 10 – Quince Tart
• Android 11 – Red Velvet Cake
• Android 12 – Snow Cone
• Android 13 – Tiramisu
• Android 14 – Upside Down Cake

So what’s the dessert name for U? Well, according to 9to5Google, it has been reported that Google is calling it Upside Down Cake. But you’ll likely never hear that name from Google.

When will Android 14 be released?

Google has mostly stuck with a similar schedule every year, since releasing the new version of Android independent of new Pixels or Nexus devices. Here’s how the schedule has gone recently:

• Android 13 – August 2022
• Android 12 – October 2021
• Android 11 – September 2020
• Android 10 – September 2019

When Google releases the first developer preview, they always say that the stable version will be launching in Q3. That is technically, July 1 to September 30. Though we typically see it the day after Labor Day. In 2021, things were delayed a bit, so it came out closer to the Pixel launch. And in 2022, it came out a week before Labor Day. So the Labor Day holiday is a good time to start thinking about this new version of Android launching.

What’s the developer preview schedule?

Google released the first developer preview on February 8, 2023. There will be a second beta, likely released on the second Wednesday of March, before moving onto the betas in April. Google typically releases the previews and betas on the second Wednesday of each month. This comes after releasing the security update on the first Monday of the month.

What’s the beta schedule for Android 14?

Google has released the schedule for the betas and the previews for Android 14. It mostly matches up with previous launches. Where we will get two developer previews. Followed by the first beta in April.

• Developer Preview 1 – Released February 8, 2023
• Developer Preview 2 – Released March 8, 2023
• Beta 1 – Released on April 12, 2023
• Beta 2 – Released on May 10, 2023
• Beta 3 – Released on June 7, 2023
• Beta 4 – Released on July 11, 2023
• Beta 5 – Released on August 10, 2023
• Stable release – Released on October 4, 2023

What features are we going to see in Android 14?

It’s still pretty early, and while we really don’t know what features we could see in Android 14, since Google hasn’t yet launched the preview, we do have a pretty good idea. Thanks to some digging around in the source code, seeing some commits and a few other ways. So here’s what we’re expecting to see in Android 14.

Satellite Calls

After Apple launched Satellite capabilities on the iPhone 14 last year, it was pretty much a no-brainer that Google would do the same fro Apple. Though, Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer confirmed that they are working on Satellite connectivity, even before the iPhone 14 was announced.

Wild to think about user experiences for phones that can connect to satellites. When we launched G1 in '08 it was a stretch to get 3G + Wifi working. Now we're designing for satellites. Cool! Excited to support our partners in enabling all of this in the next version of Android!

— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) September 1, 2022

While Lockheimer’s tweet doesn’t necessarily spell out Satellite Calling, we do have some more evidence. This time from Qualcomm. It is launching Snapdragon Satellite, which will be part of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Though it won’t be on every phone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. So it’s definitely likely that Google will add support in Android 14.

Predictive back navigation

This feature has actually long been talked about on various versions of Android over the past few years. But it looks like it could actually be available in Android 14. Basically, the way that back button works currently is, you might be going back or you might be quitting the app. The predictive back navigation aims to fix that. What will happen is that you’ll get a sneak peak of the home screen before you finish your command. This will show you if you are about to quit the app or not.

While this sounds a bit complicated, in practice it shouldn’t be. As mentioned, this was originally built for Android 13, but then got pushed back for Android 14.

Health Connect

We’re hearing that Health Connect could actually be built into Android 14. Health Connect is basically a syncing app that Google built, which can sync different health apps with each other. So you can connect MyFitnessPal, Samsung Health and Fitbit all to Health Connect and have them share data with each other. It’s also very helpful if you switched watches. Say you’ve been using a Galaxy Watch for a few years and switch over to a Pixel Watch, now you can bring your data from Samsung over to Fitbit easily.

Now, with Android 14, it’s likely going to be pre-installed on your phone. It’s already available in the Play Store, but not many people know about it. This would make it easier for people to know it exists, and actually use it.

Android Beam is finally dying

Do you remember Android Beam? That kind of cool feature where you could share pictures and files with someone else via NFC by tapping your phones against each other? Yeah, Google actually deprecated it in Android 10, back in 2019. But now, it is officially finally gone from AOSP.

So what’s the big deal with that? Well, Google does have Nearby Share, which does work a lot better. However, it does rely on Google Mobile Services (GMS). So not all phones can use it. For instance, Huawei’s phones are unable to use it, since they can’t work with Google. So this is effectively stripping out a feature from non-GMS enabled devices.

Will my phone get Android 14?

Will your phone get Android 14? That’s going to depend on two things: the manufacturer of your phone, and how old it is. Most manufacturers are now promising two or more years of Android updates. So anything released in 2021 or later should get updated. Some, like Samsung and Google promise three years, so anything released in 2020 or later will get updated.

Now the other question is when? Well, for Google, we know Pixels will get updated right away. Likely within a couple of days of Google releasing Android 14 to AOSP. Samsung and OnePlus have been pretty quick with releasing updates for new versions of Android recently, so they will likely be about one to two months behind the final release. As for the others? Who knows at this point. We still don’t even have a preview yet, let alone know when Google will release Android 14.