Android 13 Dev Preview 2 Is Available Now For These Pixels, What’s New And How Install It
Google announced last month its release of Android 13 for developers, and just last week started rolling out Android 12L feature drop to all supported Pixel devices. Now, Google is following last month's developer release with the Developer Preview 2 of Android 13 for select Pixel devices. The latest preview includes updates to privacy and security, new color themes, focused notifications, lock and home screen updates and other features.
Updates for the prerelease version of Android 13 are expected throughout 2022. Google should push several updates throughout the year, before final release sometime in the fall. It should be noted that pre-release software can be unstable, therefore you should likely only use it on a device that is not your daily driver, unless you like to live dangerously.
While prerelease versions of Android 13 are primarily aimed at developers so they can test new features, it is also available for anyone curious enough, and brave enough, to install the software onto to their device. If you fall into one of those categories, you will need a compatible device in order to install the software.
Compatible Pixel devices are:
- Pixel 4,
- Pixel 4 XL
- Pixel 4A
- Pixel 4A 5G
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 5A with 5G
- Pixel 6
- Pixel 6 Pro
Android 13 Prep And Installation Steps: Make Sure To Backup First
Now, if you have a compatible device and are willing to subject yourself to possible bugs, here is how you can go about downloading it onto your device. You will want to first make sure your phone has been backed up. In order to do this, you will need to go to Settings > Google > Backup and then tap on Back up now. This process could take several minutes, depending on when the last time your device was backed up.In order to install the preview, you will need to connect your phone to a computer via a USB cable. This requires your Pixel to be unlocked and have USB debugging enabled. To enable USB debugging you will need to first unlock Developer options. To do this you will go to Settings > About phone and then tap Build number seven times. Then enter your password when prompted, and a new Developer options menu will appear in your System settings.
To enable USB debugging, go to Settings > System > Developer options and then toggle on USB debugging. A notification will appear describing what USB debugging does, and you will simply tap OK.
You will also need to toggle on OEM unlocking, while still in Developer options. This will unlock your device's bootloader. After you have unlocked your device, you will be given the option of choosing a different operating system to boot up, which in this case will be Android 13.
Once you have completed the above steps, you will then need to flash the Android 13 Developer Preview system image on your Pixel via your computer using the Android Flash Tool. This tool will only work with certain browsers that support WebUSB, such as Chrome and Edge. You may need to download additional software to complete the process, such as Android USB Driver.
Once you have flashed the Android preview build onto your device, you will need to reboot your phone and you should see a notification that you are now running the Android 13 Developer Preview. You will hit OK and then set up your phone which will now also be wiped like a full factory reset. So again, just make sure you've backed up your phone so you can restore, apps, contacts, etc. And of course, if you decide to try out the preview build, let us know what you think of it.
