Android 13 Beta for TV

Latest update: Android 13 Beta 3 for TV released on June 24, 2022.

The Android 13 Beta for Android TV is now available. The beta is an opportunity for you to test your apps and provide feedback on the latest release.

Android 13 adds further customizations to improve the user experience and increase compatibility with TV devices. Some of the highlights for this release include performance and quality improvements, and continued advancements to how users interact with Android TV.

Here's an overview of what's new in Android 13 for TV:

Performance & Quality

• Improvements to the AudioManager API allows developers to anticipate audio attribute support to prepare audio for the active audio device.
• HDMI state changes are now surfaced to the MediaSession lifecycle. If you handle these events accurately then playback is stopped if the HDMI device is powered off.

Input & accessibility

• The new Keyboard Layouts API offers support for different keyboard layouts.
• A new API in AccessibilityManager allows your app to query the new system-wide audio description preference setting. You can then provide audio descriptions in line with the users' preference.

Multitasking

• New picture-in-picture support designed for TVs now supports expanded mode to make better use of the larger screen and improved multitasking.
• Picture-in-picture enters docked mode by default, so when another app enters into it, your app's activities should support resizing to make optimal use of the screen, or opt out of docked mode to allow the overlay to appear on top.
• Keep-clear APIs allow you to specify key UI elements which shouldn't be overlaid by floating windows.

Validation Tools

• Media Controller Test allows you to test the intricacies of media playback on Android and helps verify your media session implementation.
• MediaSession Validator provides an easy and automated way to verify your media session integration on Android TV.

For more detailed information about the features and changes for Android TV, see What's new for TV in Android 13.

Refer to the Android 13 documentation for a full list of all of the changes included in Android 13. Note that not all those features apply to TV.

How to get started

If you have the ADT-3 Developer Kit, install a system image by following the instructions in this section. Alternatively, you can use the Android Emulator for TV, which allows you to try out some new user interface capabilities like HDMI state changes and expanded picture-in-picture support.

Install system images manually

To install Android 13 Beta 3, follow these steps:

1. Use the ADT-3 Developer Kit for Google TV. The provided system image is for ADT-3 developer devices only.

2. Download the system image listed on this page.

3. If needed, back up your device data.

4. Flash the image onto your ADT-3 device. Manually flashing a device gives you precise control over the test environment and can be performed with command line tools.

ADT-3 factory images