Google on Wednesday released the first beta of Android 17, which brings performance improvements and a way to add new features to media and camera apps. More importantly, it changes the way developers access new APIs and features in the latest version.
With this release, the company is abandoning developer betas and adopting an ongoing Canary channel to push out updates for developers. This is similar to how Google approaches web browser development in that Google has a Canary channel for the Chrome browseralso.
The company said that because of this approach, features and APIs become available to developers as soon as they are approved in internal testing. In addition, the Canary channel enables over-the-air updates, benefiting developers with more integrated workflows and better ways to test their applications.
Google said it’s targeting March for platform stability, with Android 17 scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2026. With the release of Android 16 last year, Google adopted a two-release-a-calendar-year structure, with a major SDK release in the first half and a minor SDK release in the second half of the year. The company made this move to give device makers time to roll out the latest version faster to devices and reduce fragmentation in the Android ecosystem.
Android 17 will restrict developers from opting out of resizing restrictions. This means that developers cannot force orientation or resizing on large screen devices. This is Google’s way of making more apps work better on tablets and when folded in different orientations and window sizes.
Google is also adding more camera features in Android 17. It’s adding APIs to let developers handle camera transitions more smoothly, support for VVC (H.266) video codec, better volume handling across apps to keep volume constant, and tighter controls for background audio.
Android 17 also brings performance improvements, reduced dropped frames, and a better garbage collection mechanism to clean up memory. The company is improving Wi-Fi connectivity with better proximity detection and secure peer discovery.
