Posted by Matthew McCullough, VP Product Management, Android Developer
Today we’re releasing the second beta of Android 17, continuing our work to build a platform that prioritizes privacy, security, and refined performance. This update delivers a range of new capabilities, including the EyeDropper API and a privacy-preserving Contacts Picker. We’re also adding advanced ranging, cross-device handoff APIs, and more.
This release continues the shift in our release cadence, following this annual major SDK release in Q2 with a minor SDK update.
User Experience & System UI
Bubbles
Bubbles is a windowing mode feature that offers a new floating UI experience separate from the messaging bubbles API. Users can create an app bubble on their phone, foldable, or tablet by long-pressing an app icon on the launcher. On large screens, there is a bubble bar as part of the taskbar where users can organize, move between, and move bubbles to and from anchored points on the screen.
EyeDropper API
A new system-level EyeDropper API allows your app to request a color from any pixel on the display without requiring sensitive screen capture permissions.
val eyeDropperLauncher = registerForActivityResult(ActivityResultContracts.StartActivityForResult()) { result -> if (result.resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) { val color = result.data?.getIntExtra(Intent.EXTRA_COLOR, Color.BLACK) // Use the picked color in your app } } fun launchColorPicker() { val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_OPEN_EYE_DROPPER) eyeDropperLauncher.launch(intent) }
Contacts Picker
A new system-level contacts picker via ACTION_PICK_CONTACTS grants temporary, session-based read access to only the specific data fields requested by the user, reducing the need for the broad READ_CONTACTS permissions. It also allows for selections from the device’s personal or work profiles.
val contactPicker = rememberLauncherForActivityResult(StartActivityForResult()) { if (it.resultCode == RESULT_OK) { val uri = it.data?.data ?: return@rememberLauncherForActivityResult // Handle result logic processContactPickerResults(uri) } } val dataFields = arrayListOf(Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE, Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE) val intent = Intent(ACTION_PICK_CONTACTS).apply { putStringArrayListExtra(EXTRA_PICK_CONTACTS_REQUESTED_DATA_FIELDS, dataFields) putExtra(EXTRA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE, true) putExtra(EXTRA_PICK_CONTACTS_SELECTION_LIMIT, 5) } contactPicker.launch(intent)
Easier pointer capture compatibility with touchpads
Previously, touchpads reported events in a very different way from mice when an app had captured the pointer, reporting the locations of fingers on the pad rather than the relative movements that would be reported by a mouse. This made it quite difficult to support touchpads properly in first-person games. Now, by default the system will recognize pointer movement and scrolling gestures when the touchpad is captured, and report them just like mouse events. You can still request the old, detailed finger location data by explicitly requesting capture in the new “absolute” mode.
// To request the new default relative mode (mouse-like events) // This is the same as requesting with View.POINTER_CAPTURE_MODE_RELATIVE view.requestPointerCapture() // To request the legacy absolute mode (raw touch coordinates) view.requestPointerCapture(View.POINTER_CAPTURE_MODE_ABSOLUTE)
Interactive Chooser resting bounds
Connectivity & Cross-Device
Cross-device app handoff
A new Handoff API allows you to specify application state to be resumed on another device, such as an Android tablet. When opted in, the system synchronizes state via CompanionDeviceManager and displays a handoff suggestion in the launcher of the user’s nearby devices. This feature is designed to offer seamless task continuity, enabling users to pick up exactly where they left off in their workflow across their Android ecosystem. Critically, Handoff supports both native app-to-app transitions and app-to-web fallback, providing maximum flexibility and ensuring a complete experience even if the native app is not installed on the receiving device.
Advanced ranging APIs
We are adding support for 2 new ranging technologies –
-
UWB DL-TDOA which enables apps to use UWB for indoor navigation. This API surface is FIRA (Fine Ranging Consortium) 4.0 DL-TDOA spec compliant and enables privacy preserving indoor navigation (avoiding tracking of the device by the anchor).
-
Proximity Detection which enables apps to use the new ranging specification being adopted by WFA (WiFi Alliance). This technology provides improved reliability and accuracy compared to existing Wifi Aware based ranging specification.
Data plan enhancements
To optimize media quality, your app can now retrieve carrier-allocated maximum data rates for streaming applications using getStreamingAppMaxDownlinkKbps and
getStreamingAppMaxUplinkKbps.Core Functionality, Privacy & Performance
Local Network Access
Android 17 introduces the ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK runtime permission to protect users from unauthorized local network access. Because this falls under the existing NEARBY_DEVICES permission group, users who have already granted other NEARBY_DEVICES permissions will not be prompted again. By declaring and requesting this permission, your app can discover and connect to devices on the local area network (LAN), such as smart home devices or casting receivers. This prevents malicious apps from exploiting unrestricted local network access for covert user tracking and fingerprinting. Apps targeting Android 17 or higher will now have two paths to maintain communication with LAN devices: adopt system-mediated, privacy-preserving device pickers to skip the permission prompt, or explicitly request this new permission at runtime to maintain local network communication.
Time zone offset change broadcast
Android now provides a reliable broadcast intent, ACTION_TIMEZONE_OFFSET_CHANGED, triggered when the system’s time zone offset changes, such as during Daylight Saving Time transitions. This complements the existing broadcast intents ACTION_TIME_CHANGED and ACTION_TIMEZONE_CHANGED, which are triggered when the Unix timestamp changes and when the time zone ID changes, respectively.
NPU Management and Prioritization
Apps targeting Android 17 that need to directly access the NPU must declare FEATURE_NEURAL_PROCESSING_UNIT in their manifest to avoid being blocked from accessing the NPU. This includes apps that use the LiteRT NPU delegate, vendor-specific SDKs, as well as the deprecated NNAPI.
ICU 78 and Unicode 17 support
Core internationalization libraries have been updated to ICU 78, expanding support for new scripts, characters, and emoji blocks, and enabling direct formatting of time objects.
SMS OTP protection
Android is expanding its SMS OTP protection by automatically delaying access to SMS messages with OTP. Previously, the protection was primarily focused on the SMS Retriever format wherein the delivery of messages containing an SMS retriever hash is delayed for most apps for three hours. However, for certain apps like the default SMS app, etc and the app that corresponds to the hash are exempt from this delay. This update extends the protection to all SMS messages with OTP. For most apps, SMS messages containing an OTP will only be accessible after a delay of three hours to help prevent OTP hijacking. The SMS_RECEIVED_ACTION broadcast will be withheld and sms provider database queries will be filtered. The SMS message will be available to these apps after the delay.
Delayed access to WebOTP format SMS messages
If the app has the permission to read SMS messages but is not the intended recipient of the OTP (as determined by domain verification), the WebOTP format SMS message will only be accessible after three hours have elapsed. This change is designed to improve user security by ensuring that only apps associated with the domain mentioned in the message can programmatically read the verification code. This change applies to all apps regardless of their target API level.
Delayed access to standard SMS messages with OTP
For SMS messages containing an OTP that do not use the WebOTP or SMS Retriever formats, the OTP SMS will only be accessible after three hours for most apps. This change only applies to apps that target Android 17 (API level 37) or higher.
Certain apps such as the default SMS, assistant app, along with connected device companion apps, etc will be exempt from this delay.
All apps that rely on reading SMS messages for OTP extraction should transition to using SMS Retriever or SMS User Consent APIs to ensure continued functionality.
The Android 17 schedule
We’re going to be moving quickly from this Beta to our Platform Stability milestone, targeted for March. At this milestone, we’ll deliver final SDK/NDK APIs. From that time forward, your app can target SDK 37 and publish to Google Play to help you complete your testing and collect user feedback in the several months before the general availability of Android 17.
A year of releases
We plan for Android 17 to continue to get updates in a series of quarterly releases. The upcoming release in Q2 is the only one where we introduce planned app breaking behavior changes. We plan to have a minor SDK release in Q4 with additional APIs and features.
%20(1).png)
Get started with Android 17
You can enroll any supported Pixel device to get this and future Android Beta updates over-the-air. If you don’t have a Pixel device, you can use the 64-bit system images with the Android Emulator in Android Studio.
If you are currently in the Android Beta program, you will be offered an over-the-air update to Beta 2.
If you have Android 26Q1 Beta and would like to take the final stable release of 26Q1 and exit Beta, you need to ignore the over-the-air update to 26Q2 Beta 2 and wait for the release of 26Q1.
We’re looking for your feedback so please report issues and submit feature requests on the feedback page. The earlier we get your feedback, the more we can include in our work on the final release.
For the best development experience with Android 17, we recommend that you use the latest preview of Android Studio (Panda). Once you’re set up, here are some of the things you should do:
-
Compile against the new SDK, test in CI environments, and report any issues in our tracker on the feedback page.
-
Test your current app for compatibility, learn whether your app is affected by changes in Android 17, and install your app onto a device or emulator running Android 17 and extensively test it.
We’ll update the preview/beta system images and SDK regularly throughout the Android 17 release cycle. Once you’ve installed a beta build, you’ll automatically get future updates
Discussion about this post