Android 11 has been finally launched! As a Pixel 3a user, I’ve had the possibility to try the public beta 3, i.e. the latest Android beta. Now, the newest version has been publicly released. While my experience of use hasn’t been very different from Android 10, Android 11 has introduced some cool changes that have made my work a bit easier. For example, the screenshot button is now on the “recent” app menu, on the power menu there are all my Google Home devices, etc. But now I want to focus on some of the most interesting and important updates, the ones that are a real kicker for developers!
Media controls’ bugs have been fixed, for what concerns UI and usability, in all the new Android releases. Do you remember media controls in the 4.1 version? I do, and I still cry. They’ve changed radically: from really ugly to really pretty. Now in the 11 version, media controls appear below the quick settings menu, so users can pause and resume their sessions whenever they want. You may need to tweak your MediaBrowserService, but it should be pretty easy to handle.
Chat Bubbles were already an Android 10 feature, but they could be enabled only in “Developer Options”. Now it is possible to add this feature to your apps too. You should set an Activity as resizable and embedded, then create a notification accordingly. It looks pretty easy to do. Check out the official documentation here.
Privacy has made great progress over time from the Android 6.0 version with the runtime permissions framework, to the “During app usage” feature in Android 10. Now you can even grant permissions only once, and they auto-reset after some time. We should not forget Scoped storage, that will be necessary to implement Android 11 targeting (learn more in this article).
THANKS GOD wireless debugging has come true! It’s not a workaround like before. Thanks Google for implementing this feature now.
There’s a lot more to discover in Android 11, so I suggest you check the official documentation. Don’t forget to set up your app for the new Android version! We still don’t know how many versions will be launched before Fuchsia is released. But the new Jetpack and Android X libraries have made Android development way easier.
