Android 13 was published on 15 August and many users want to know when their smartphones receive an update and will be upgraded to it. But, I’m not going to discuss it. Because it depends on many factors and how the companies have a plan to provide it for the devices. Actually, I’m more interested in discussing security, performance and system core improvement rather than other aspects.
Privacy & Security
Google has improved security & privacy features in Android 13. Let’s have a look at them.
Explicit EXPORT option for dynamically-registered receiver in Android 13
Now developers can decide if other apps can send a dynamically-registered receiver a broadcast. By enabling DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_EXPLICIT_EXPORT_REQUIRED, it’ll be possible to set whether that receiver should be exported or not. If so, when you register a receiver you must set the exported parameters by RECEIVER_EXPORTED or RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED.
// It means that the private broadcast receiver should **NOT** be able to receive broadcasts from other apps.
context.registerReceiver(sharedBroadcastReceiver, intentFilter,
RECEIVER_EXPORTED)
// It means that the private broadcast receiver should **NOT** be able to receive broadcasts from other apps.
context.registerReceiver(privateBroadcastReceiver, intentFilter,
RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED) Actually, this new feature for the dynamically-registered receiver is the same as what you can do in the manifest file by tag exported.
To use exact alarms you need to request a new permission
In 2 conditions an application can use USE_EXACT_ALARM however an upcoming Google Play policy will prevent using this permission if the app doesn’t satisfy the conditions below:
- Your app is an alarm clock app or a timer app.
- Your app is a calendar app that shows notifications for upcoming events.
Remove unused runtime permission from Android 13
From Android 13 it’s possible to revoke unused runtime permission by calling an API.
Separate permission for different types of media
Apps must request separately to access different media types for Android 13 or higher.
| Media Type | Permission |
|---|---|
| Images and photos | READ_MEDIA_IMAGES |
| Videos | READ_MEDIA_VIDEO |
| Audio files | READ_MEDIA_AUDIO |
Non-matching intent will be blocked
From Android 13 the intent that can’t be matched to the exported receiver will be blocked by Intent. So, no non-matching intent will be delivered to the exported receiver of apps.
Photo keeper keeps the entire media gallery safe
Android 13 has introduced the Photo picker as a solution to remove the necessity of accessing the media library for apps. So, no need to declare run-time permission anymore and just by running Photo picker users can select the photo and the result will send back to the application as result.
New permission for nearby Wifi devices
API level 33 introduced NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES as new runtime permission in NEARBY_DEVICES. Then to manage the device’s connections to nearby access points you should add this permission. Also, it’s required to declare if the app needs ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION.
There is a summary of the most important Android 13 new features.
