The Android 14 platform includes behavior changes that may affect your app. The
following behavior changes apply to all apps when they run on Android 14,
regardless of
targetSdkVersion
. You should
test your app and then modify it as needed to support these properly, where
applicable.
Make sure to also review the list of behavior changes that only affect apps targeting Android 14.
Core functionality
Schedule exact alarms are denied by default
Exact alarms are meant for user-intentioned notifications, or for actions that
need to happen at a precise time. Starting in Android 14, the
SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM
permission is no longer being pre-granted to most newly installed apps
targeting Android 13 and higher—the permission is denied by default.
Learn more about the changes to the permission for scheduling exact alarms.
Context-registered broadcasts are queued while apps are cached
On Android 14, the system may place context-registered broadcasts in a queue while the app is in the cached state. This is similar to the queuing behavior that Android 12 (API level 31) introduced for async binder transactions. Manifest-declared broadcasts aren't queued, and apps are removed from the cached state for broadcast delivery.
When the app leaves the cached state, such as returning to the foreground, the system delivers any queued broadcasts. Multiple instances of certain broadcasts may be merged into one broadcast. Depending on other factors, such as system health, apps may be removed from the cached state, and any previously queued broadcasts are delivered.
Apps can kill only their own background processes
Starting in Android 14, when your app calls killBackgroundProcesses()
,
the API can kill only the background processes of your own app.
If you pass in the package name of another app, this method has no effect on that app's background processes, and the following message appears in Logcat:
Invalid packageName: com.example.anotherapp
Your app shouldn't use the killBackgroundProcesses()
API or otherwise attempt
to influence the process lifecycle of other apps, even on older OS versions.
Android is designed to keep cached apps in the background and kill them
automatically when the system needs memory. If your app kills other apps
unnecessarily, it can reduce system performance and increase battery consumption
by requiring full restarts of those apps later, which takes significantly more
resources than resuming an existing cached app.
Security
Minimum installable target API level
Starting with Android 14, apps with a
targetSdkVersion
lower than 23
can't be installed. Requiring apps to meet these minimum target API level
requirements improves security and privacy for users.
Malware often targets older API levels in order to bypass security and privacy
protections that have been introduced in newer Android versions. For example,
some malware apps use a targetSdkVersion
of 22 to avoid being subjected to the
runtime permission model introduced in 2015 by Android 6.0 Marshmallow (API
level 23). This Android 14 change makes it harder for malware to avoid security
and privacy improvements.
Attempting to install an app targeting a lower API level will result in an
installation failure, with the following message appearing in Logcat:
INSTALL_FAILED_DEPRECATED_SDK_VERSION: App package must target at least SDK version 23, but found 7
On devices upgrading to Android 14, any apps with a targetSdkVersion
lower
than 23 will remain installed.
If you need to test an app targeting an older API level, use the following ADB command:
adb install --bypass-low-target-sdk-block FILENAME.apk
Media owner package names might be redacted
The media store supports queries for the OWNER_PACKAGE_NAME
column, which
indicates the app that stored a particular media file. Starting in Android
14, this value is redacted unless at least one of the following conditions is
true:
- The app that stored the media file has a package name that is always visible to other apps.
The app that queries the media store requests the
QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES
permission.
Learn more about how Android filters package visibility for privacy purposes.
User experience
Grant partial access to photos and videos
On Android 14, the user can grant partial access to their photos and videos when
an app requests any visual media permissions that were introduced in Android 13
(API level 33): READ_MEDIA_IMAGES
or READ_MEDIA_VIDEO
.
The new dialog shows the following permission choices:
- Select photos and videos: New in Android 14. The user selects the specific photos and videos that they want to make available to your app.
- Allow all: The user grants full-library access to all photos and videos on the device.
- Don't allow: The user denies all access.
To handle this change more gracefully in your app, consider declaring the new
READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED
permission. Learn more about how to
support the case where the user grants partial permission to their media
library.
Secure full-screen Intent notifications
With Android 11 (API level 30), it was possible for any app to use
Notification.Builder.setFullScreenIntent
to send full-screen intents
while the phone is locked. You could auto-grant this on app install by declaring
USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT
permission in the AndroidManifest.
Full-screen intent notifications are designed for extremely high-priority
notifications demanding the user's immediate attention, such as an incoming
phone call or alarm clock settings configured by the user. Starting with Android
14, apps allowed to use this permission are limited to those that provide
calling and alarms only. The Google Play Store revokes default
USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT
permissions for any apps that don't fit this profile.
This permission remains enabled for apps installed on the phone before the user updates to Android 14. Users can turn this permission on and off.
You can use the new API NotificationManager.canUseFullScreenIntent
to
check if your app has the permission; if not, your app can use the new intent
ACTION_MANAGE_APP_USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT
to launch the settings page
where users can grant the permission.
Changes to how users experience non-dismissable notifications
If your app shows non-dismissable foreground notifications to users, Android 14 has changed the behavior to allow users to dismiss such notifications.
This change applies to apps that prevent users from dismissing foreground
notifications by setting Notification.FLAG_ONGOING_EVENT
through
Notification.Builder#setOngoing(true)
or
NotificationCompat.Builder#setOngoing(true)
. The behavior of
FLAG_ONGOING_EVENT
has changed to make such notifications actually
dismissable by the user.
These kinds of notifications are still non-dismissable in the following conditions:
- When the phone is locked
- If the user selects a Clear all notification action (which helps with accidental dismissals)
Also, this new behavior doesn't apply to non-dismissible notifications in the following use cases:
- Notifications tied to real calls using
CallStyle
- Notifications created using
MediaStyle
- Device policy controller (DPC) and supporting packages for enterprise
Data safety information is more visible
To enhance user privacy, Android 14 increases the number of places where the system shows the information you have declared in the Play Console form. Currently, users can view this information in the Data safety section on your app's listing in Google Play.
We encourage you to review your app's location data sharing policies and take a moment to make any applicable updates to your app's Google Play Data safety section.
Learn more in the guide about how data safety information is more visible on Android 14.
Accessibility
Non-linear font scaling to 200%
Starting in Android 14, the system supports font scaling up to 200%, providing low-vision users with additional accessibility options that align with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
If you already use scaled pixels (sp) units to define text sizing, then this change probably won't have a high impact on your app. However, you should perform UI testing with the maximum font size enabled (200%) to ensure that your app can accommodate larger font sizes without impacting usability.