Android 13: Apps will ask users for permission to send notifications same as in iOS

Android 13 Tiramisu still does not have an official release date, beyond the rumours that point to the second half of 2022, however, the second preliminary version for developers was released this Thursday, March 17, and a feature caught the attention of the evaluators.

According to different reports, this new feature forces applications to ask users for permission to send notifications on the device, a function very similar to the one that iOS, Apple’s operating system for the iPhone, has had for many years.

This tool is very useful, as it assures the owner of the smartphone that only the applications that he chooses will send him notifications.

In fact, according to Google’s blog post, asking for permission will be a requirement for apps on Android 13: ” Apps targeting Android 13 will now need to request the user’s notification permission before posting notifications.”

“To help users focus on the notifications that are most important to them, Android 13 introduces a new runtime permission to send notifications from an app,” explains Dave Burke, vice president of engineering for Android.

Regarding Android 12 or lower version apps, he explained that “the system will handle the update flow on your behalf” and that “the flow will continue to adjust.”

Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) audio support

Another great feature in this second preview build of Android 13 is support for Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) audio.

Bluetooth LE Audio is a new standard that uses an audio codec called a Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3), which can transmit at lower bit rates with higher quality. That should result in less power consumption, leading to better battery life.

Android 13 DP2 also includes a few other improvements, including support for the new MIDI 2.0 standard which adds two-way communication, more precise timing, and higher resolution with 32-bit messages that should provide a more analogue feel.

The first preview of Android 13 was released in February and showed off a new theme option and system-wide photo picker. Google’s Material You dynamic colour feature, which allows you to more easily match your phone’s colour palette to your wallpaper, will be available on Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Xiaomi, Techno, among others.

While Android 13 DP2 is available for Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 4a, Pixel 4 XL, or Pixel 4 users, we recommend not installing it yet, as It should have some bugs that Google needs to fix until the release of a full beta or official version.