Android 17 Beta 1 Now Available for Pixel Devices

Android 17 Beta 1 is officially live, offering Pixel users a first gaze at the next major version of Google’s mobile operating system. The rollout began on February 13, 2026, after a two-day delay, and is available for Pixel devices from the Pixel 6 series up to and including the Pixel 10 series [9to5Google]. This release bypasses the traditional developer preview phase, providing a beta build directly to users who opt-in through the Android Beta Program [Android Developers].

Signing Up for the Beta

Pixel owners can enroll their devices in the Android 17 Beta Program [Android Developers]. While beta software inherently carries risks of bugs and instability, Google asserts that this beta should be more stable than previous developer previews. Users can exit the beta program at any time to revert to a stable Android version [9to5Google].

What’s New in Android 17 Beta 1

Android 17, internally codenamed “CinnamonBun,” introduces several key changes and improvements. Here’s a breakdown of the notable features:

User Interface & Windowing

• Mandatory Large Screen Adaptivity: Apps targeting Android 17 (API level 37) on large screens (screen width of 600dp or greater) will no longer be able to opt-out of resizing or orientation changes. Attributes like screenOrientation, resizeableActivity, minAspectRatio, and maxAspectRatio will be ignored, except for games and devices smaller than 600dp [9to5Google].
• Optimized Configuration Changes: The system will no longer restart Activities by default for certain configuration changes (keyboard, navigation, touchscreen) to prevent state loss. Developers can opt-in to restarts using a new manifest attribute, android:recreateOnConfigChanges [9to5Google].

Performance & Runtime

• Lock-free MessageQueue: A new lock-free implementation of android.os.MessageQueue aims to reduce missed frames and improve performance.
• Generational Garbage Collection: ART’s Concurrent Mark-Compact collector now supports generational garbage collection, prioritizing frequent, low-cost collections of “young generation” objects.
• New Profiling Triggers: ProfilingManager adds triggers for COLD_START, OOM (out of memory), and KILL_EXCESSIVE_CPU_USAGE events.
• Notification Restrictions: Strict size limits are now enforced on custom notification views to reduce memory usage.

Media & Camera

• Dynamic Session Updates: The Camera API allows switching use cases (e.g., Photo to Video) without closing and reopening the camera session, reducing glitches.
• Constant Quality for Video Recording: setVideoEncodingQuality() in MediaRecorder enables constant quality (CQ) mode for video encoders.
• Background Audio Hardening: Audio playback, focus requests, and volume changes will silently fail if the app is not in a valid lifecycle state.
• VVC Support: Platform support for Versatile Video Coding (H.266) has been added.

Privacy & Security

• Cleartext Deprecation: The android:usesCleartextTraffic attribute is deprecated. Apps targeting SDK 37+ will default to blocking cleartext traffic; developers should migrate to Network Security Configuration.
• HPKE Hybrid Cryptography: A public Service Provider Interface for an implementation of HPKE hybrid cryptography has been introduced.

Connectivity & Tools

• Companion Device Manager: New profiles for Medical Devices and Fitness Trackers have been added. A unified permission dialog, setExtraPermissions, bundles nearby permissions into the association dialog.

Pixel Launcher Customization

The Pixel Launcher’s Google Search bar can now be long-pressed and customized, allowing users to modify the pinned search bar directly, rather than adding an extra widget [9to5Google].

Known Issues

Some users have reported issues receiving the Android 17 Beta update on their Pixel 10 Pro devices [Reddit]. Still, the update is generally rolling out to all eligible Pixel devices.