Get your Pixels ready — Android 17 beta 1 just arrived with a bunch of new features (Update: launch postponed)

Get your Pixels ready — Android 17 beta 1 just arrived with a bunch of new features (Update: launch postponed)

https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/android-phones/get-your-pixels-ready-android-17-beta-1-just-arrived-with-a-bunch-of-new-features

Publish Date: 2026-02-16 04:07:00

Source Domain: www.tomsguide.com

Update (Feb 16): After briefing journalists about the Android 17 beta launch coming on February 11th, Google ended up postponing the launch from the 11th to February 13th. All other details remain the same.

The next generation of Android is officially here, as Google today released the first beta of Android 17.

In the accompanying Android Developers blog post, Google’s VP of Product Management, Android Developer, Matthew McCullough, writes how Android 17 is “continuing our work to build a platform that prioritizes privacy, security, and refined performance.”

McCullough goes on to explain: “This build continues our work for more adaptable Android apps, introduces significant enhancements to camera and media capabilities, new tools for optimizing connectivity, and expanded profiles for companion devices.”

A lot of the post is focused on in-depth details about Android 17’s inner workings, as you’d expect from a post on a developer blog about in-development software. Luckily for you, we’ve set our jargon translator to maximum power to explain what all these new tools could mean for the end users of Android phones around the world.

Who can get the beta?

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)

As of the announcement, any Google Pixel 6 or later model is able to get the update. Just go to the Android beta website, make sure you’re signed into the Google account on the phone you want to use, and then select it from the device list at the bottom of the page.

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If you’re really geeky, you can also run it in Android Studio, the official developer app.

What’s in the beta?

Android betas like this don’t come with fully-finished features from the off. But we can still figure out what might be combing based on what the blog is promoting to developers.

For one, developers now have to ensure their apps work on foldables, tablets and desktop just as well as they do on regular phone screens. Users still have final control over how apps look on their plus-sized devices,…

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