Google has released the first update to the Developer Preview of Android 11. Android 11 developer preview 1.1 doesn’t introduce any new features, just a plethora of new patches and bug fixes.
Fixes in Android Developer Preview 1.1 include a fix for an exception that sometimes occurs for foreground location permissions, temporary relaxation for some “greylist” restrictions for OkHTTP and related SDKs, a fix for a fatal exception thrown by the built-in phone app, and a tweak to Gradle that allows NDK apps targeting Android 11 to built successfully (rolling out via Android Studio).
Android 11 Developer Preview 1.1 includes the following critical fixes and changes:
Privacy
Apps targeting Android 11 no longer receive an erroneous security exception if they try to request a foreground location permission, such as ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION or ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, and any other permission at the same time.
Android Studio and tools
armeabi-v7a apps no longer cause x86 Emulator images to crash and NDK apps targeting Android 11 are no longer blocked from building because of an issue with the Android Gradle Plugin.
This fix is included in both Android Studio 4.0 Beta 2 (or higher) and Android Studio 4.1 Canary 1 (or higher).
Non-SDK interface restrictions
Greylist restrictions have been temporarily relaxed on a small number of methods used by OkHTTP and related SDKs that are in widespread use. This should provide app developers with more time to test and update their libraries before these restrictions are reinstated later in the Developer Preview.
Apps
Fixed an issue where a fatal exception was being thrown by com.android.phone.
GSI
Fixed an issue where using the gsi_gms_arm64-userdebug build failed to boot on Pixel 3 devices and another issue where the Setup Wizard would crash when running on Pixel 4 XL devices.
It should be stressed that this is a developer-focused version of the software. To test it, you’ll need to manually flash a full system image onto your Pixel 2/2 XL, Pixel 3/3 XL, Pixel 3a/3a XL, or Pixel 4/4 XL. Ironically, none of these phones support 5G but Google is obviously preparing for global rollout.
Get started with Android 11
The Developer Preview has everything you need to try the Android 11 features, test your apps, and provide feedback. To get started, download and flash a device system image to a Pixel 2 / 2 XL, Pixel 3 / 3 XL, Pixel 3a / 3a XL, or Pixel 4 / 4 XL device.
Additionally, you can set up the Android Emulator through Android Studio. The Android Emulator running Android 11 system images includes experimental support to run ARM 32-bit & 64-bit binary app code directly on 64-bit x86 Android Emulator system images. Lastly, for broader testing, GSI images are also available.
Next, update your Android Studio environment with the Android 11 Preview SDK and tools – you can do this from inside Android Studio. To take advantage of the latest Android Studio features, we recommend installing the latest version of Android Studio from the canary channel.
Android 11 Timeline
Google also shared the schedule it expects to use to release Android 11 preview updates. We’ll continue to see developer preview released through April, with the first wider-release beta (likely the public beta with support from hardware partners) in May.
Google is introducing a milestone called “Platform Stability” to help you plan your final testing and releases. This milestone means that Android 11 has reached final internal and external APIs, final app-facing behaviors, and final non-SDK graylists.
Android 11 is expected to reach Platform Stability at Beta 2 in June 2020. From that point, you can expect no further changes affecting your apps.
| Timeline | Build | Type | Developer actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | Developer Preview 1 | Early baseline build focused on developer feedback, with new features, APIs, and behavior changes. | Priority window for feedback on APIs. Explore new APIs and behavior changes and report any critical issues or requests to us during this time. |
| March | Developer Preview 2 | Incremental update with additional features, APIs, and behavior changes. | Give us feedback as you work with APIs and behavior changes. Begin early app compatibility testing. |
| April | Developer Preview 3 | Incremental update for stability and performance. | Get apps ready for consumers Beta. Continue compatibility testing, publish updates without changing targeting. Notify SDK and library developers of any issues. |
| May | Beta 1 | Initial beta-quality release, over-the-air update to early adopters who enroll in Android Beta. | Continue compatibility testing, watch for feedback from Android Beta users. Start early testing with targeting Android 11. |
| June | Beta 2 | Platform Stability milestone. Final APIs and behaviors. Play publishing opens. | Start final compatibility testing for apps, SDKs, and libraries. Release compatible versions. Continue work to target Android 11. |
| Q3 | Beta 3 | Release candidate build. | Release compatible updates for apps, SDKs, and libraries. Continue work to target Android 11. Build with new features and APIs. |
| Q3 | Final release | Android 11 release to AOSP and ecosystem. | Release compatible updates for apps, SDKs, and libraries. Continue work to target Android 11. Build with new features and APIs. |
